City leaders in East Peoria support a proposal to add 10 more Flock Safety automated license plate reader cameras to the police department’s existing system that’s been in place four years.
The five-member city council on Tuesday voted unanimously in approving the first reading of a new five-year agreement with Flock, despite several community members speaking out against the technology during the two-hour meeting.
“If I thought for one second what we're doing here is a violation of anyone’s constitutional rights, I wouldn't support it,” said Mayor John Kahl.
Many of the public speakers raised concerns about the cameras being an invasion of privacy and the potential misuse of the technology, pointing to an ongoing investigation in neighboring Creve Coeur.
“We will hold our people accountable if they abuse the system. We audit our system and we regularly check our system,” said East Peoria Police Chief David Catton. “We don’t control what Creve Coeur does; we don't control what other departments do. We control what East Peoria does, so we definitely hold people accountable.”
The new cameras cost $36,500 in the first year of the contract and $30,000 in the subsequent years, for a total agreement of $156,500.
City commissioner Seth Mingus said he believes the advantages of the Flock system outweigh the concerns, and he trusts the police to use the technology as it’s intended.
“We don’t need, in my opinion, to not have a tool at our police officers’ disposal because some people may misuse it,” said Mingus.
The final approval on a second reading is expected at the next regular meeting on Oct. 6.
“I’m going to support this tonight, knowing that we have a vote here in a couple weeks, and we have the right to continue to investigate,” said city commissioner Dan Decker. “I am still open for discussion. I believe that this is a tool that can save lives and I am interested to hear more.”
Kahl remained steadfast in his support of the Flock technology.
“There are safeguards that we’ll have to continue to look at, but I’m fully confident in the policies that we have in place here and how that technology is being used for the right reasons,” he said. “I’ll stand on the record of what we’ve been able successfully do here to reduce and solve crime.”
