You may notice some shiny new technology atop 12-foot poles around Peoria.
The Peoria Police Department officially launched its 2-year license plate reader contract with Flock Safety this week.
Police Chief Eric Echevarria and Sergeant John Briggs detailed the technology Wednesday during a community meeting at Glen Oak Community Learning Center. The meeting was organized by City Councilman Tim Riggenbach and facilitated by Jessie McGowan Jr.
The readers collect license plate data in real time, 24-7 – however, police will only be able to access the data if the readers detect a plate involved in an ongoing investigation, Briggs explained.
“If a stolen vehicle passes an LPR camera, a patrol officer that has the software up will have a notification within 16 to 30 seconds of that vehicle passing by,” he said. “Having these notifications, hopefully we are recovering stolen vehicles, not only more often, but more quickly.”
The sooner a stolen vehicle is recovered, the sooner the police can locate the car before it is used in a crime, Briggs said.
Of the 140 reported shootings last year, Briggs said 30% definitely involved a vehicle; the other 70% most likely involved a vehicle, he said.
“If someone commits a crime, whether it's a shooting, whether they shoot out of the vehicle, whether they're … in the vehicle, whether they leave in the vehicle, there's instances where we don't have anything to go off of, but a witness saying they ‘Saw a vehicle speeding away up the block,’” he said. “If we see that, or if we know that, and they pass a license plate camera, we just went from having no investigative leads, most likely, to have a huge investigative lead.”
The 16 solar-powered license plate readers have been placed strategically throughout the city’s “high-crime” neighborhoods, Echevarria said.
The department created a heat map to determine where vehicles are most often reported stolen and where most shootings occur, the chief said.
Echevarria did not disclose where, exactly, the cameras have been placed — however, he said they're hard to miss; each camera sits atop a 12-foot perch.
Briggs said he is hopeful the existence of the readers will eventually deter crime altogether.
“Our goal as a police department isn't to be successful in solving crimes,” he said. “Our goal is to eradicate crime. So one of the goals of the LPR system is, hopefully … we use quite frequently as an investigative tool, people start realizing we have it, and we start to bring crime down.”
Last fall, Peoria City Council unanimously approved spending $109,000 for the cameras and a two-year subscription to Flock Safety’s necessary software. The expense is partially covered by a Department of Justice assistance grant, with additional second-year funding covered by the city’s Police Camera Fund.
The cameras cost about $2,500 to rent per month, Briggs said.
License plate readers are commonly used in other cities, including Chicago. Unlike Chicago, Echevarria said, these readers will not be used to track and ticket cars in violation of speeding, running red lights or other civil offenses.
But the cameras have not been without controversy. The Bloomington City Council voted to postpone a decision on whether that city will allow the cameras, after concerns were raised by the local ACLU.
And in January, the Peoria chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union called on the city to develop a specific privacy policy detailing who can access the system and how long information will be stored. The organization wanted to know how the police were deciding where to place the ALPR cameras, among other questions.
Peoria ACLU asks for regulations on city's license-plate reading cameras
During Wednesday’s meeting, Echevarria noted the police department’s attorney had worked with the Peoria ACLU to create policies around the use of the readers. Those policies were finalized this week.
“We found some common ground,” he said. “We want to make sure that we are doing our homework … and recognizing some of the concerns that are out there.”
Flock Safety collects data on license plates in real time every time a car drives past a reader. That data is deleted after 30 days, however, and can only be accessed by police if a license plate is reported in association with a stolen vehicle, a reported crime, a missing person, or an outstanding warrant.
Even if a vehicle gets a “hit” through Flock’s database, Briggs said the police department is subject to various rules and procedures before an officer can legally investigate the lead.
“We are not here to violate your Fourth Amendment rights,” Briggs said. "These are not stop light cameras. They're not red light cameras. ... This is 100% an investigative tool."
During Wednesday’s meeting, Peoria ACLU President Kristen Meierkord thanked Echevarria for his willingness to work together on drafting policies around the use of the cameras.
The city’s contract with Flock Safety includes a trial run of the company’s “Raven” technology, which is Flock’s version of Shotspotter.
The police will monitor the relative efficacy of Shotspotter and Raven over the next year and consider moving companies if Raven proves to be more effective, Echevarria said.
Co-responder bill chatter
Following discussion of the readers, a few community members pressed Echevarria on House Bill 5319 – a recently proposed state bill in which Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth (D-Peoria), the chief and leaders of UnityPoint Health are calling on the Illinois State Legislature to fund a police/mental health professional co-responder pilot program in Peoria.
Peoria police, UnityPoint mental health staff could respond to 911 calls together
The community members asked the chief how HB 5319 differed from the recently enacted Community Emergency Services and Supports Act (CESSA) bill.
Signed into law last year by Gov. JB Pritzker, CESSA requires emergency response operators to refer calls seeking mental and behavioral health support to a new service, which will dispatch a team of mental health professionals instead of police. (Officers will be on site as mental health professionals respond to calls, but allow mental health professionals to take the lead on speaking with individuals in need.)
Echevarria said he is not opposed to alternative responders, but he felt strongly that a co-responder model would have success in Peoria. He referenced a similar program in his former home of Elgin.
The chief told community members he was open to further discussion on the matter, and invited them to exchange contact information after the meeting.
