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La Plata council approves new surveillance cameras; town says facial recognition features will be disabled
Summary
Council adopted Resolution 25‑26 to buy 21 Mercatus cloud‑based cameras using ARPA funds; police and staff said person/plate recognition features will be disabled for routine use and that policies are being drafted for investigative access consistent with Maryland law.
The La Plata Town Council voted Oct. 21 to approve the purchase and installation of 21 Mercatus surveillance cameras at Town Hall and the Police Department using American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.
Town Manager Chuck Stevens said the cameras were procured by piggybacking the 2024 Carroll County contract with a vendor quote of $109,092.59, leaving project reserves available for future enhancements. The supplier’s cloud platform offers analytics such as person recognition and license‑plate recognition; several council members asked whether those features would be enabled.
Police and town staff responded that live, real‑time facial recognition is prohibited under Maryland law and that the town will disable the camera analytics for routine monitoring. Stevens told the council the town would not enable person or plate recognition features as part of the standard configuration and that the Maryland Public Information Act and crime‑investigation exemptions would guide any law‑enforcement uses of footage. He said law enforcement could, for investigatory purposes, request that specialized analytics be enabled to review recorded footage, subject to legal requirements.
Councilmembers requested written policies governing camera use, data retention and release. Captain Payne and Chief Norris (police) are working with staff to draft procedures to address privacy, access control and compliance with state law; Stevens said those procedures will be provided to the council prior to broader system roll‑out.
The council adopted Resolution 25‑26 by roll call vote (5–0).
