SARASOTA, Fla. — License plate readers have become a widely used tool by law enforcement across our region, and the Sarasota County sheriff is working on buying some more.
It's part of a drive to upgrade technology for the agency's operations but body cameras for deputies are still not part of that plan.
Sheriff Kurt Hoffman said expanding the installation of license plate readers would help catch people who break the law. He said he does not believe the more expensive body-worn cameras for deputies are needed at this time to achieve that.
"I'm not against body cameras, but it's a multi-million dollar expenditure if you have the option of putting more people on the street and getting more personnel. Remember, we only have a few more deputies on the road than we did in 2007," Sheriff Kurt Hoffman said.
This week, Sarasota County commissioners approved more than $104,000 from the Law Enforcement Forfeitures Fund for equipment purchase. This would support programs related to drug treatment, prevention, abuse education and crime prevention.
According to Hoffman, with internal affairs complaints down 61% from 12 years ago, investing in body-worn cameras would not make any financial sense.
"This year's budget, I added a new position. So until we increase our staffing and get some of our technology concerns under control I think a $4-,$5- or $6-million expenditure, based on the data that I have, is not warranted," Hoffman said.
Part of the approved funds would also go towards hiring skilled staff, upgrading the records management system to combine police and jail data into a single database and providing 24 stationary and 4 mobile license plate readers.
The equipment will be procured from FLOCK Safety, a company that specializes in high-tech surveillance cameras supplied to law enforcement agencies.
The company's website states that its state-of-the-art license plate recognition (LPR) cameras have been deployed in more than 2,500 communities across the country and are being utilized by more than 2,000 law enforcement agencies to help fight crime.
"We're solving all kinds of crime with license plate readers. Just recently with the 13-year-old girl that was killed by the hit-and-run. We were able to Geo fence that area, look for a gray Honda, and within a matter of minutes, we identified who the driver was," Hoffman said.
However, some county residents disagree with prioritizing license plate readers over body cams.
"I would not forego the body cams. I think that is more critical than anything else..this is more supplemental," Michael Mulcahy, a North Port resident, said.
Mulcahy said the body cams not only help prevent abuse of power but also protect law enforcement officers.
"They can be accused of things they didn't do and they can do things to that so it's a good check and balances for everybody," he explained.
Advocacy groups also have concerns about privacy and data protection issues.
"It's not just one single snapshot of one intersection. It reveals a whole lot about a person and is definitely a violation of a person's right to privacy," Matthew Guariglia, a senior policy analyst at Electronic Frontier Foundation, said.
According to the sheriff's office, information from the license plate readers isn't shared with non-government entities and is only accessible to authorized personnel. The information is also stored for one year before it is purged, destroyed or deleted following Florida law.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) warns that while license plate readers can serve a legitimate law enforcement purpose, they're also being used to track the movements of innocent motorists.
The ACLU says information is captured, collected and sometimes pooled into regional sharing systems. The organization has lobbied for better restrictions to protect citizens' privacy rights.