EAST MOLINE, Ill. — East Moline approved a two-year, $60,000 dollar contract with Flock Safety, a company that creates license plate reader cameras.
The approval came during a city council meeting on the night of Monday, Oct. 17.
"They've been presented to the council over the past month or so," East Moline Police Chief, Jeff Ramsey said. "And it's just a way for us to enhance you know, the safety in the city of East Moline. Moving toward that technology-based investigations, you know, these LPRs, they can help with investigations and they can notify us of stolen vehicles, they can notify us of missing endangered people, they can help us find people that maybe are lost or need to be found, they can help us do that quicker."
The cameras work by taking a snapshot of passing cars and scanning the plates for any criminal activity. But Chief Ramsey said the readers will not violate any privacy concerns.
"It literally takes a snapshot of the back of the vehicle. And it just catches the vehicle with the license plate. You can't see inside the vehicle, it doesn't invade anybody's privacy. It's used solely just to take a picture of what's available for the public to see if they were just walking down the street."
The purchase includes ten cameras, installation, and access to Flock's program.
"There are several agencies in the Chicago area that have Flock Safety, across the country actually," Chief Ramsey said. "Around here, I know Peoria has them and our neighbor next to us, Silvis has them. They've had them for about a year, some other agencies are looking to get them," said Chief Ramsey.
The cameras are expected to be ready for use within the next few months.