Photo by Michael Whitney.
MONROE — On March 25, the City Council unanimously voted to execute the purchase of Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) cameras made by Flock Safety.
They’re expected to be operational within Monroe by late June or July.
“We will have a system of 22 cameras, which will primarily be placed to capture the more heavily traveled routes into the city. The remaining cameras will be dispersed at some of the main thoroughfares (and) intersections within the city,” Detective Nathan Erdmann said. Though some police departments place license-reading cameras on patrol cars, the plan only is for fixed locations.
The initial cost of the system is $139,766, with a one-time installation fee of $73,766 and a yearly cost of $66,000.
“Flock Safety products support police operations and investigations,” Police Chief Jeff Jolley said, saying that using the system will increase the police department’s efficiency to identify areas where crime is occurring and dispatch officers to solve more crimes.
The ALPR cameras scan plates to identify vehicles flagged in the system as stolen, involved in certain crimes, or involved in missing person cases. The system is integrated with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to receive AMBER alerts.
The Flock Safety-brand Falcon model cameras Monroe is buying also have vehicle fingerprinting ability to identify the make, model and color of vehicles that it sees when it can’t see a license plate. The license plate would otherwise provide this information because the vehicle is registered in state databases.
Monroe will join more than 80 jurisdictions in the state that currently use Flock Safety cameras, including Everett, Marysville, Arlington, Stanwood and Lake Stevens. Snohomish is looking to add them. Jurisdictions can gain permissible access to other’s cameras for investigations.
“We have been granted access to other private and public Flock systems around the area for 6-8 months, and there have been several cases already where Flock has assisted in identification/location of suspect vehicles in cases that may not have otherwise been solved,” Erdmann said. “Based on the success with our limited access and no system of our own, I anticipate Flock will significantly positively affect the number of cases with pursuable leads.”
