Bel Air officials outline plan to buy Verkada surveillance system, estimate $199,430; garage option raises cost to $217,439

Bel Air police and staff on Oct. 28 presented a plan to expand the town's public-safety camera network using Verkada hardware and cloud-based analytics, an effort officials say will improve real-time monitoring, license-plate recognition and investigatory search capabilities.

Chief Moore, presenting the item for a future formal vote, said the project would modernize the town's current surveillance system and be compatible with neighboring Harford County systems. "It's gonna be a game changer in public safety and crime fighting ability in the town of Bel Air," he said.

The town proposes to procure Verkada equipment, installation and a five-year software license under a piggyback of Harford County's low-voltage contract (contract 25268). Staff named Infinity Technologies as the Harford County vendor; the town's procurement officer determined piggybacking the county contract complies with the town's procurement policy, officials said.

Staff said the first-phase deployment is currently estimated at $199,430, funded through the commissioner-approved FY26 budget. Chief Moore said that earlier project estimates exceeded $300,000 for a smaller set of locations; through negotiations and changes in scope the estimated cost and the number of deployment locations have changed. An option that includes additional parking-garage geofencing and related equipment raises the estimate to $217,439, the chief said, and he explained the difference may include adding other cameras for town-hall and police-lobby coverage depending on the final configuration.

Vendor representatives described technical features demonstrated during a pilot: license-plate recognition that aided local theft investigations, pan-tilt-zoom cameras with AI-powered sentry modes for large areas, line-crossing "digital tripwire" alerts for restricted areas and infrared capability for night-use. The vendor said installations include Verkada cameras, gateways, mounts, five-year software licensing, network infrastructure, installation materials and accessories, and full commissioning and testing.

On data retention, staff and the vendor said the base offering includes a 30-day natural retention period; the vendor said archived clips can be stored indefinitely so long as an active license is maintained, and that extended-retention models are available. The vendor stated that detailed pricing for extended retention would come from the authorized reseller and would be provided if the board requests it. The vendor also noted a 10-year hardware warranty and ongoing software updates are included in their proposal.

Staff called attention to additional costs and approvals required at some locations. The Maryland Highway Safety Office has offered approvals for use on certain MDOT infrastructure, but engineering and permit review at selected intersections carries an estimated additional fee of $7,500 per intersection, staff said. Officials also said they are negotiating a memorandum of understanding with a private retail property owner to host cameras to address frequent retail thefts.

Because the Oct. 28 meeting was a work session without a quorum, the board did not vote. Staff told commissioners the surveillance contract and final cost options will be placed on the Nov. 3 agenda for action when a quorum is expected.

The town identified public-safety interoperability as a key rationale: staff said the proposed system can integrate with Harford County records and other neighboring systems, allowing authorized cross-jurisdictional searches of vehicle and event data when permitted by agreement. Vendor representatives said demonstrations during a local pilot helped investigators clear traffic disputes, identify suspects from partial plate data and locate a missing child by tracing a clothing description across cameras.

Commissioners asked several operational questions during the discussion, including whether footage is automatically archived or requires manual selection (staff said both options exist), how long footage can be retained without additional cost (base retention is 30 days; archiving to preserve clips is available while a license is active), and the source of the procurement authority (the Harford County contract was cited as the procurement vehicle). Staff and the vendor agreed to provide a detailed cost breakdown and retention-pricing options for the Nov. 3 meeting.

Next steps: staff will finalize procurement documents and present the proposed contract and final cost options to the board at the Nov. 3 meeting when action can be taken.