KENTWOOD, Mich. — The City of Kentwood on Aug. 15 approved upward of $67,000 for the purchase and installation of 10 license plate reader cameras from Flock Safety.
"They're taking pictures of vehicles in license plates, not necessarily people, with a goal of figuring out maybe when a suspect vehicle has entered our city or which vehicles were around during during a time that a crime happened," Kentwood Police Captain Ryan VanderVeen said.
VanderVeen said the cameras would be deployed mainly to high-crime areas in the city, areas that the department was still working to identify as of Wednesday morning.
He said the department sought out the technology after partnering with local agencies that have been able to solve crimes through the use of the readers.
"We can put in information into the system, maybe looking for a certain vehicle or a certain license plate, and then we will be notified when that vehicle enters our city or we will be notified when that vehicle, when a photo was captured on that vehicle," VanderVeen said.
However, where readers like those set for Kentwood have appeared, so have privacy concerns from some.
The American Civil Liberties Union has raised it's own concerns, saying on their website that the readers "have the potential to create permanent records of virtually everywhere any of us has driven, radically transforming the consequences of leaving home to pursue private life, and opening up many opportunities for abuse."
It's similar to what the City of Grand Rapids had heard in recent months, leading up to authorizing the purchase of a drone program for its Police Department.
VanderVeen said there are protocols in place, however, that aim to prevent misuse and focus the technology on keeping the city safe.
"There will be no use of this system for personal use or anything that's not related to a criminal activity or criminal investigation," VanderVeen said. "All images - it's just images, it's not video - all images will be deleted on a rolling 30 day basis, unless it is involved in a crime and needed for evidence. We will be doing audits of the system to verify that our employees are using the system as its intended."
VanderVeen said the cameras are expected to be installed within the next three to five months.
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