CAMERA SYSTEM APPROVED TO IDENTIFY SUSPECT VEHICLES.
On July 8, 2024, the City Commission passed a resolution, 4-0, funding the installation of License Plate Readers (LPR) throughout Plant City. The set up cost is $133,000. The maintenance and continual software and data updating service is $60,000 per year. There is already enough funding for the equipment available in the Plant City Police Department (PCPD) budget. For this project, the PCPD will identify 20 placement points along major Plant City traffic arteries and in the community redevelopment areas. The cameras will be mounted on 10-foot poles angled to view vehicles, and will use solar panels for power. The purpose is to aid police investigations for crimes such as thefts, criminal mischief, stolen vehicles, kidnappings, robberies, missing persons, violent felonies, amber alerts, and silver alerts. The system will not be used for traffic enforcement, nor can it be used for facial recognition. It is strictly for vehicle identification, and will be used for investigative purposes only.
“Unfortunately, a lot of times when a crime occurs—it happens in the moment—people see fractions of what is actually going on,” said PCPD Captain Robert McLellan in a presentation to the City Commission. “So, a lot of times, when they see a vehicle they say, ‘It is a blue two door, and it had a bumper sticker.’ Before, we would be looking for millions of vehicles. Now with this technology, we can put information in and narrow it down, and make out what the vehicle is.”
The system, developed by Flock Safety, is currently used by the Tampa Police Department, Lakeland Police, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, and the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, among other agencies. The system works through connected Law Enforcement agencies first entering license numbers and/or descriptions of vehicles connected to homicides, kidnapping, and felonies. In real time, the positioned, high-speed, computer-controlled cameras continuously and automatically scan passing license plates. The system uses optical character recognition software to translate the scans into text, then compares the text to wanted plates in the monitoring system. With the implementation of the system, PCPD will become part of a network that participates with other agencies to information share.
The high-definition cameras can record a plate on a car traveling up to 100 miles per hour to provide PCPD with real-time intelligence. With this technology, PCPD will also be able to identify what is called a vehicle fingerprint—the make, model, type of vehicle, different colors, rims, missing license plates, covered plates, and over 20 additional vehicle details such as roof racks and bumper stickers.
When a crime occurs in which PCPD has to locate a vehicle, they can type in a set of descriptive schematics—for example, a silver vehicle with black rims. Using the LPR technology, police can see if such a vehicle has been in the area to pursue their investigation.
“This is one of those tools that will put us ahead,” McLellan added. “With today’s technology, in today’s types of crimes, it will help us get that extra step ahead of the criminals.”
Plans are for the PCPD leadership and the City Manager to evaluate effectiveness of the system after implementation. They will review situations in which LPR has been used, how it has supported investigations, and what crimes it helped solve.
