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Mostly Cloudy License plate readers could reduce crime
To combat a rising crime rate in the city, the Glen Cove Police Department will have access to 10 new license plate reading cameras.
Police will be able to use an app on their phones to see live updates and notifications about suspicious vehicles. According to the contract with Glen Cove, the company will delete collected data after 30 days, but the GCPD can download the data and store it.
The cameras will have an initial term of 24 months, at an annual cost of $25,000 with a one-time implementation fee of $3,500. This has already been approved in the city budget. The pilot program is expected to last 60 days, with an option to cancel the agreement at no cost to the city if it decides to cancel their contract. There is currently no specified date in place to install the cameras.
The equipment will be purchased from Flock Group Inc., an Atlanta-based company.
The cloud-based system for storing information is already used by other municipalities across Nassau County, which the GCPD said would help expedite investigations.
Cameras like these aren’t new to the city. Glen Cove has one plate reading camera that was installed by the county, but Glen Cove Public Information Officer Lt. Detective John Nagle said that camera is out of date.
“We can network with other agencies who have the same cameras,” Nagle said. “These cameras would be state-of- the-art, unlike the older camera that we have, which really wasn’t that great.”
The cameras allow authorities to observe vehicles that pass through the cameras’ designated areas, and trace a vehicle’s route before a crime is reported. The cameras would help spot and locate vehicles that may have been involved in
a crime, ranging from theft to Amber Alert notices. It is capable of providing the make, model, color and license plate of the vehicle to law enforcement.
Flock Group Inc.’s website claims that their technology helps reduce crimes in communities by 70 percent and have partnered with over 2,000 law enforcement agencies.
The company’s site adds that Flock Safety cameras employ best-in-class automated license plate reading and machine learning technology. They describe their cameras as having an intentionally short shutter speed, allowing the cameras to start taking pictures in less than a tenth of a second following vehicle motion.
The cameras can sense and capture multiple frames of a car traveling up to 75 miles per hour. The company claims its cameras’ motion sensing is not triggered by individual passersby or pedestrians, and its infrared system captures highly accurate, clear images day or night.
The locations of the cameras around Glen Cove won’t be made public, and Nagle said the department would rather not describe what the cameras look like.
Nagle stressed that the number of stolen vehicles has doubled in 2021 and 2022. According to preliminary data from the Index Crime Reported to Police by region on Governor Kathy Hochul’s state website, overall crime in the state increased from 345,020 cases in 2021 to 417,975 cases in 2022, a 21 percent increase.
Nagle said the department hopes the cameras will not only solve crimes but prevent crimes.
“It’s something that’s been on our wish list for quite some time,” Nagle said. “It’s a great tool that we have at our disposal that other jurisdictions already have, and it will enable us to help solve crimes and prevent other crimes. If you’ve got a stolen vehicle that hits on one of these plates, we know there’s a bad actor in town and our police force can be notified of it.”
Mayor Pamela Panzenbeck said she wants to do everything she can to support the police in their investigations and strongly believes the cameras are a valuable tool for the GCPD.
The community has mixed feelings about implementing cameras.
Business owners like Glen Cove resident Thomas Duffy said he doesn’t see issues with the cameras since the technology already exists on police vehicles.
Lucia Portela Alonso of Glen Head said she’s not comfortable with the cameras at all.
“I think it is an invasion of privacy,” Alonso said. “Instead, add police supervision that’s creating opportunities for more jobs. I’m sure installation of the cameras and monitoring of them could be replaced by the salary of a police person.”
