VENICE, Fla. — The City of Venice could soon be adding new surveillance technology to support law enforcement.
On Tuesday, the Venice City Council considered the addition of cameras that would allow the Venice Police Department to read license plates and compare the results with a national database.
A memorandum from Police Chief Charlie Thorpe included in the city council's meeting materials explains how the department plans to use the technology if it's approved.
He wrote that the license plate reader cameras would "help neighborhood associations and law enforcement to capture the objective evidence to reduce crime rates, improve neighborhood security and protect home values."
Thorpe continued, adding that the technology would help the department by "extending our capacity to identify accurate and objective investigative leads, assess criminal hotspots, and to prevent and solve crime in our community."
City council members approved of Thorpe's use of the cameras but the decision of which ones to use still needs to be made.
The cameras currently being considered would be sold and serviced by Flock Safety, an Atlanta-based company that says it has installed the technology in more than 1,500 cities. According to Venice Police Captain Andrew Leisenring, the price for the cameras would cost roughly $2,400 a year to maintain.
As the Herald-Tribune reports, a potential benefit of the technology involving sightings that could alert officials to missing seniors of children from another area.
"Our first hope is that it deters crime and then if it doesn't, our next hope is that it helps us solve crime," Leisenring said. He adds that the information the cameras retain only last 30 days.
According to Leisenring, police are still determining which roadways would contain the cameras if they are approved. Law enforcement still has to decide how many cameras it can afford.
