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Sheriff asked for more license-plate-reader locations; county staff to bring sheriff to next briefing
Summary
Spokane County staff briefed the commissioners on a request from Flock Safety to add automatic license-plate-reader locations under the county's existing franchise. Staff said most proposed sites are adjacent to state routes and that the sheriff's office requested the locations; the board asked the sheriff to attend next week for more detail.
Matt Zirkfar (staff member) told the Spokane County Board of County Commissioners on April 22 that Flock Safety requested an amendment to its existing franchise to add locations for automatic license-plate readers (ALPRs). He said the red-dotted locations on the map are mostly adjacent to state routes and that the majority of the proposed sites would not be on county-owned arterial right-of-way.
The company operates the ALPR equipment and maintains it under a franchise; staff said a discrete-location franchise was adopted earlier and this amendment would add specific additional poles and signal locations where Flock can install long-range cameras. "The majority of these locations came about as a result of a grant that we were awarded from the Washington Auto Theft Prevention Association," Matt said; he added that many of the sites are being requested by the sheriff's office and would be attached to signals or utility poles where a signal is not present.
Commissioners asked for more detail about each proposed location and requested that a sheriff's-office representative attend the next briefing so commissioners could hear the operational rationale, confirm the sheriff's request, and review budget/grant details. Dustin (Sheriff's Office) joined the briefing later and confirmed the locations were the sheriff's request and that the grant is for two years.
Next steps: Staff will invite the sheriff's office to the next briefing to present site specifics, operational details and the franchise amendment language. No franchise amendment was approved during the briefing.
Funding: Staff noted the Washington Auto Theft Prevention Association grant provided funds to support the equipment; operations and maintenance are executed under the franchise contract with the sheriff's office as the public-safety partner.
