Bartholomew County officials have agreed to a one-year test of four stationary cameras capable of reading license plates on moving vehicles as they enter the county.
The cameras are not radar-detection devices that could result in a driver receiving a ticket without warning, Capt. Chris Roberts, commander of the Detective’s Bureau of the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department, told the Bartholomew County commissioners on Monday.
“The only thing this camera reads is the actual plate itself,” Roberts said. “It provides no other information.”
After Roberts assured commissioner Tony London the cameras will never be used for traffic control, the commissioners approved obtaining the four cameras for testing at a total cost of $11,000. The commissioners will pay $5,000, while the sheriff’s office will foot the remainder of the bill.
The four cameras will be placed at main north and south entrances to the county, including the U.S. 31 and Interstate 65 interchange, Roberts said. Manufactured by the Atlanta-based Flock Group Inc., each camera is capable of reading two lanes of license plates going in the same direction, he said.
These cameras are primarily seen as a tool to alert local law enforcement to stolen vehicles, missing persons or abducted children, Roberts said.
During a four-second delay, the license plate numbers will automatically be checked with data about wanted vehicles kept in a cloud storage system maintained by Flock, the detective said.
If a number hits upon a match, an audible alert would go off on the patrol vehicle’s computer, Roberts said. Rather than being channeled through a dispatch center, the officer would receive a direct alert through the Flock systems, Roberts said
Roberts said the cameras are for investigative purposes only. While the image of a license plate number may provide probable cause for a traffic stop, they cannot result in charges without an officer’s direct involvement and input, he said.
“You won’t want to take this on face value if the system says the vehicle was stolen,” Roberts said. “You want to do an investigation first, because sometimes the vehicle has been recovered, but not been taken out of the system. Or perhaps the victim recovered their own vehicle and didn’t notify their law enforcement agency.”
The Flock system is used by a number of other law enforcement agencies in Indiana, including the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, Roberts said. That means different agencies throughout the region will be able to share data, he said.
The cameras will be tested for 60 days. When that period is over in August, the Bartholomew County Council will be asked to include the cameras in next year’s budget. If approved, all four cameras will be tested for an additional one-year period.
Once the testing is completed, the county will have the option of either renewing or discontinuing the contract, he said.
“It may be a good fit for our community, or it may not,” Roberts said.
