City commissioners are expected to vote Monday on whether to install automatic license plate detection readers on city roads to serve as a second set of eyes for police.
“This will really help us leverage technology a lot more in the city and give us a good investigative tool citywide,” Hans Lehman, assistant chief at Lakeland Police Department, told commissioners at Friday’s agenda study.
The proposed contract lays out the city will pay $250 per month per camera in addition to a one-time $350 installation fee. The total cost for 19 cameras will be $57,000 a year, or $285,000 over the five-year contract. It will be funded by the city’s red-light camera program.
If approved, the city will rent 19 automatic license plate readers, commonly called ALPRs, through Verra Mobility. Verra Mobility obtains these solar-powered cameras through the subcontractor Flock Group Inc., publicly known as Flock Safety.
Lake County Sheriff’s Office removed 100 Flock Safety cameras installed as part of a pilot program in August 2021, as Click Orlando reported. The cameras were installed to assist with Amber Alerts or vehicle thefts. But commissioners said it was “shocking,” that many of them didn’t know the cameras were in place.
In February, The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida citing Flock as the first company to create a nationwide mass-surveillance system. Video footage and data gathered by Flock Safety’s cameras are uploaded onto the company’s own software database and by default stores it for 30 days before deleting it. This central database is searchable by “authorized end users,” such as Lakeland police.
If it cost tax dollars, the City of Lakeland and Lakeland Electric can get it done.