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Yamhill council agrees to trial AI software for city cameras; police explain search and alert features
Summary
The council agreed to try a vendor's subscription that adds searchable and alerting features to existing city cameras. Staff said the 3-year offer is about $1,800; the subscription enables keyword and object searches and license-plate-style alerts but data-retention details were not finalized.
Yamhill city staff and the police chief presented a plan to trial an AI-enabled subscription that would add searchable and alerting capabilities to the city’s existing camera network.
The subscription offer, presented by Bright Side Electric and discussed by the police chief, was described in the meeting as a three-year subscription priced at roughly $1,800 total (about $600 per year). The vendor offered the city a trial period at the discounted bundled price for the initial term while staff completes IT and firewall setup.
What the software would do: According to the police chief’s presentation, the software does not change the cameras’ recording hardware; instead it provides search and alert tools that analyze recorded footage. Examples given to council included searching for a particular object (for example, “backpack”) or a vehicle description; the system can generate alerts when matching items are detected in camera views. Staff said the functionality is similar to other municipal camera-search systems and can be configured to look for suspicious objects, vehicles of interest or other user-defined objects.
Questions from council: Councilors asked how long video would be retained and whether alerts such as Amber Alerts can be automatically pushed to the system. Staff said retention depends on the chosen vendor configuration; with the current camera set-up staff can download and preserve footage when needed but the rollover/loop time varies and depends on total storage and system configuration. Staff explained that Amber Alert-style automatic pushes are not presently built into the system and would require manual entry or additional integration; law-enforcement databases can flag vehicles or items so that, if configured, the software could alert on flagged items.
Data sharing and schools: Staff noted existing arrangements that allow access to some school-district cameras. Bright Side Electric has discussed similar services with the school district; staff said closer integration could be beneficial for incidents near schools but that any such arrangement would require coordination with the school district and appropriate privacy and access agreements.
Council action: Councilors expressed general support and agreed to move forward with the vendor’s trial offer so the IT integration and initial testing can proceed. No formal roll-call vote was recorded for the trial in the transcript excerpt; council members asked staff to report back after the trial period and after IT onboarding is complete.
What remains to be decided: Staff said retention policies, exact vendor configuration and ongoing costs beyond the initial three-year offer will need council review before long-term adoption. The city’s IT transition and firewall changes must be completed to enable full remote access to cameras via the new software.
