The cost was added to the fiscal year 2024-25 budget at an Aug. 28 council meeting following a presentation from Flock, a security company which provides LPRs to dozens of nearby cities already.
The overview
The pole-mounted cameras will capture photos of license plates and vehicles, but not faces of drivers or passengers, Flock's Territory Sales Manager Cameron Lewis said.
The photos are used to identify actionable hits by automatically searching a national database of stolen vehicles and vehicles wanted for violent crimes.
Officers may also query the data collected within the last 30 days for vehicles connected to ongoing investigations.
In the past decade, several neighboring police departments have begun using Flock's license plate readers, including departments in Austin, Bee Cave, Round Rock, Pflugerville and Buda.
Lakeway and Rollingwood are also planning to try the technology.
Quote of note
"I think one of our core values in the city, and it's reflected our budget, is safety—the expectation that you can leave your car unlocked and kids can roam around, and there's no problem, which requires a commitment to really, really low crime and [to] funding that in the police budget," Mayor James Vaughan said at the meeting.
The details
Lewis fielded several questions from the council about data privacy concerns, clarifying that the data collected by Flock is not sold to third-party companies. Instead, the data is only sharable among other law enforcement agencies.
Additionally, the cameras are not used to track speeding or parking violations.
The budgeted cost is to install the nine cameras for an initial two-year period, and after that, the cost will be $3,000 per camera per year, for a yearly total of $27,000, according to the staff report.
Looking ahead
The final budget will be adopted by council Sept. 17, according to the city's schedule.
In the meantime, it is not yet clear where the cameras will be installed, and a contract officializing the deal with Flock will take place sometime during FY 2024-25.
