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Graham County OKs upgrade and expansion of Flock Safety license-plate cameras
Summary
The Graham County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved two unbudgeted capital purchases with Flock Safety to upgrade existing license-plate reader cameras and add two new locations, with grant funding cited and locations left unnamed at the request of law enforcement.
Graham County Board of Supervisors on Dec. 16 approved two unbudgeted capital purchases with vendor Flock Safety to upgrade existing license-plate reader cameras and to add two new camera locations in the county.
The purchase, described at the meeting by a sheriff’s office representative as funded by outside grant money (referred to in the meeting as a “grama”), passed on a unanimous voice vote.
County officials said the county is already connected to a statewide network of license-plate readers and that upgraded cameras would improve plate capture at higher vehicle speeds. Jeff, a representative of the Graham County Sheriff’s Office, described the system during the board’s meeting: “The flock system… it allows, license plates to be recorded.” He told the board the cameras are sole-sourced and used in criminal investigations ranging “from homicide suspects on down the line to silver alerts.”
The sheriff’s office representative said the new cameras are physical hardware rather than a software update and that older cameras could be transferred to neighboring agencies that are also working on contracts to join the system. He said the county expects to have broader valley coverage “in theory in the next 6 to 8 months.” The presenter also said the vendor has released higher-speed cameras since the county purchased its original units; the upgrade is intended to capture plates reliably at higher speeds.
A board member asked whether automatic plate-reader performance would be improved by requiring front license plates; the sheriff’s office representative replied that “this system... is focused on the rear,” and that many partner agencies operate large monitoring centers connected to the network.
Board members noted the upgrade’s outside funding made the purchase more palatable. During the discussion a board member reported hearing that, if the outside funding fell through, the county attorney’s office might cover the expense; that account was presented as what the speaker had been told, not as a formal county commitment.
The motion to approve the unbudgeted capital purchase and the two additional Flock Safety camera locations carried unanimously. Board members also requested that locations for the new cameras remain confidential in public discussion.
What happens next: county staff will execute the vendor agreement and schedule installation; officials said the county aims to expand coverage over the coming months.
