MONSON — The Monson Police Department is in the process of installing a license plate recognition system in the town to help assist the department with crime investigations.
The system, purchased from automation company Flock Safety, will specifically work as a “force multiplier” for crimes such as “car breaking,” “missing persons,” “house breaking” and stolen dirt bikes, Police Chief Stephen Kozloski told Reminder Publishing.
He explained that the decision to purchase this system was in part due to the unpredictable nature of local crime alongside the Department’s “limited resources,” stating that he felt the system would allow the department to better address these crimes which have posed a concern over recent years for Monson and surrounding communities.
When fully installed, the license plate recognition system will include four cameras throughout the town that have the ability to take a still image of license plates in the camera’s viewing area, Kozloski said. Photos are taken at all times without discrimination and stored in a “secure cloud” database accessible to the Police Department for a rolling 30 days. After this time period, photos are permanently deleted.
Officers have the ability to utilize these photos when conducting an applicable investigation. To do so, an officer would input a specific time and location into the database in order to view all photos taken during that period, Kozloski explained. The officer would then use other information from the investigation to narrow down which license plate photos are relevant.
Kozloski noted that the department has a “strict policy” that access to the photos must be directly connected to an ongoing investigation. He emphasized that that system does not take videos, facial recognition images or actively monitor license plates across the four cameras.
“We felt that this way was the least intrusive [for Monson residents],” Kozloski said when asked why the department chose the Flock Safety system over others available on the market. He highlighted that the department felt only still photos were necessary, rather than live feeds available in other products, and that the 30-day deletion was “important,” as the department was not looking to develop a permanent database of license plates. In this way, the Flock Safety system provided enough additional security without constant video coverage.
Furthermore, Flock Safety will fully maintain the camera system for Monson as part of its purchased package, Kozloski stated. He noted that this was helpful for Monson due to its “struggle” with information technology. Cameras are also in a fixed location, rather than being portable as with other systems, and operate separately rather than on a townwide fiber network, which the town does not own at this time.
Currently, all four license plate recognition cameras are installed in Monson. However, only one is being utilized as of Sept. 24, Kozloski said. He highlighted a recent case of house break which the Flock Safety cameras were used to search through potential suspects as well as the department’s recent use of the system to check for two stolen vehicles in town.
Camera locations were chosen in part because of access to solar power and radio signals as well as optimal locations for photos, Kozloski said.
The license plate recognition system was purchased through a $17,000 grant that the Department received from the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant program. The reimbursement grant is expected to fully compensate the Department for its purchase. While the Department has received funds through this grant program, most funds previously went toward radio communications, Kozloski said.
“We are quite excited [about the new system]. We feel it will have a great impact and provide additional [support] of investigative ability,” Kozloski stated.
