HANCOCK COUNTY — Imagine a law enforcement officer getting an alert on their computer telling them a stolen vehicle is within a mile of their current location. That’s the idea behind the installation of over a dozen new safety cameras around the county designed to help law enforcement identify stolen vehicles and potentially people involved in criminal activity.
The 15 cameras cost an estimated $2,500 each and were installed throughout the county over the past couple of months, Maj. Robert Campbell of the Sheriff’s Department said. The license plate capturing units are designed to target drivers, cars and license plates already in the criminal justice system and not the average county driver.
“Crime is mobile,” Campbell said.
The cameras capture plate and vehicle images and instantly run cross references in the network with stolen or wanted vehicles already in the system. The software will then send out an alert immediately if the license plate or vehicle is associated with a crime.
“We ventured into this project for community safety,” Campbell said. “This is a resource available that helps us utilize technology to provide a constant source to help find people who are wanted.”
Sheriff Brad Burkhart made county officials aware of his decision to add the new crime fighting tool back in December then updated the county council and commissioners of the installation which started in February. Burkhart made it clear then the cameras only read and give an alert on stolen plates or vehicles involved with a crime.
Burkhart informed county officials the cameras are part of a lease program and are being paid for out of county public safety funds, but he noted they’ll need to budget for them next year.
County officials are leasing the camera units from Flock Safety. The company notes over 70% of crime occurs with a vehicle and the camera units work to catch criminals. The units are able to capture vehicles traveling up to 75 MPH from up to 75 feet away—day and night. The system does not do live streaming but rather captures the image of the vehicle and the license plate. The network then runs a cross reference through the local and national data base criminal system sending out immediate alerts when there is a match.
According to their website, Flock Safety’s system securely captures images while a proprietary machine learning algorithm uses vehicle fingerprint technology to identify the license plate, vehicle make, type, and color. The camera network extends the Sheriff’s agency’s capacity to identify accurate and objective leads, assess crime hotspots, and not only solve, but prevent crime in the community.
“These units can look at the taillights and through artificial intelligence tell us what kind of vehicle it is right away,” Campbell said.
The key component of the system is to help officers find people who are already part of the legal system who may have a warrant out for their arrest or may be in possession of a reported stolen vehicle.
“For law abiding citizens, there would be no alert hit on their vehicle,” Campbell said. “These cameras are solely for the purpose of catching people who are already wanted.”
The Sheriff’s network is tied into a system used throughout Central Indiana where there are over 100 other law enforcement agencies taking advantage of this new state of the art technology to help get bad actors off the streets. Other law enforcement agencies in the county are looking into joining the network including the Greenfield Police Department. Chief Paul Casey of the McCordsville Police Department noted his agency is planning to get the camera units as soon as this year.
Officials in Indianapolis already have a large number of these types of cameras in place after having used traffic cameras for years, Campbell said. Other counties in the Central Indiana area are using them as well.
Alerts have kept county deputies busy since the cameras were installed, Campbell said indicating several criminals are using county roads. The alerts have helped locate stolen vehicles as well as help officials clarify situations that might require a license plate being taken off the wanted list.
The camera system is not just for police departments. The units can be utilized by private businesses and neighborhood HOAs who can partner with and share the information they gather on their units with law enforcement on vehicles when or if criminal activity is afoot. If there is an alert, only law enforcement would receive the information and be able to investigate right away. The units are great for keeping communities safe, the company touts.
Six months after installing 13 camera units police in Cobb County, Ga., told officials with the company their crime rate dropped 64 percent, the Flock Safety website stated.
For years, the use of camera systems with video components have helped law enforcement find and identify criminals, but in a slower manner. However, the newer systems are more targeted and sophisticated using top notch computer technology identifying vehicles and ownership immediately.
“We’re hoping to be able to solve crimes a lot faster now,” Campbell said.
Sheriff’s officials feel anyone in the county who understands what the units are for, helping police get one step closer to solving a crime, will support the use of the cameras and not see them as an infringement upon civil liberties.
Campbell noted if there is a burglary and there is no video surveillance or newer camera units like have been recently installed they might not be able to take the next step in solving the crime. However, the new camera units can identify what vehicles were in the area at the time giving police leads to help hold criminals accountable.
“We hope the community can see we want to detour criminal activity,” Campbell said.
Any business or HOA organization wanting to know more about the new safety cameras availability should contact the Sheriff’s Department at 317-477-1147 and officials will get interested parties the information needed.
