Homer Glen trustees hear Flock safety presentation; agree to workshop, meet Will County on regional sharing and costs

Police and external representatives described how license‑plate‑reader (LPR) cameras from vendor Flock Safety operate and urged trustees to consider a village deployment to aid investigations and deter crime. Sergeant Dirk Obermeyer and Flock representatives explained that the cameras capture moving vehicles, run image processing to identify make/color/type and compare results against law‑enforcement hot lists. The vendor said captured plate data and associated images are retained for 30 days and then purged. Incident searches and all alerts are logged with user, time and query details, the vendor said. Officials noted that multiple neighboring municipalities and 29 law‑enforcement agencies in Will County already use Flock. Trustees and staff discussed costs presented in the meeting: an earlier estimate for a 10‑camera deployment was about $29,000 in initial costs and about $25,000 per year to operate; vendor pricing cited during the meeting was roughly $3,000 per LPR camera per year, with an additional $500 per fixed 90‑degree video camera that provides a 30‑day recording. Trustees stressed questions about data access, who would have live‑view privileges, and whether village staff or only the county sheriff should receive real‑time alerts. Several trustees said they would prefer the county sheriff’s office to receive and manage alerts; one trustee asked that live‑view capability be limited to law enforcement. The board did not authorize purchase at the meeting. Instead trustees asked staff to schedule a public workshop, ask the Will County Sheriff’s Office whether it can contribute financially or operationally for county roads that run through Homer Glen, and return with a detailed cost analysis and placement plan. Trustee Schaller asked staff to pursue state grant opportunities cited by the vendor and trustee members, including an Illinois attorney‑general organized retail theft grant. Trustees emphasized they want clear public information: the 30‑day retention policy, the limits on who may query the system and how shared data would be handled. Mayor Neitzke Trojicke and Village Manager Joe Baber asked staff to prepare outreach materials and arrange follow‑up meetings with Will County before any procurement steps. No formal board vote or purchase decision was made; the board set follow‑up actions and asked staff to return with a workshop date and cost figures.