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Council approves Flock Group license-plate and gunshot-detection services after chief cites faster alerts
Summary
Zion approved a three‑year agreement with Flock Group for license‑plate recognition and gunshot‑detection software; police reported 581 total alerts in the last year and said the systems improved response times and helped solve crimes in coordination with neighboring agencies.
Zion’s City Council voted June 4 to authorize the purchase of products and services from Flock Group, a provider of license‑plate recognition (LPR) and gunshot‑detection technology.
Police Chief Barton told the council the department has used Flock’s combined technologies over the past year and reported “we have been able to categorize 581 total orders,” including single‑shot alerts, fireworks alerts and multi‑shot events. Barton said the system routes notifications directly to officers’ in‑car or desktop computers and cited examples in which the technology aided multi‑jurisdictional arrests.
The proposed agreement is a three‑year arrangement the department said includes a $10,000 annual cost reduction and continued partnership through 2027. Commissioners asked for counts, coverage area and whether the current coverage would expand; Barton said heat‑mapping guided placement and the agreed coverage area will remain the same. After discussion the council approved the purchase.
Why it matters: the technology is intended to shorten the time between an incident and police response, supplementing 911‑initiated reports and supporting investigations. Council members pressed staff for concrete metrics and coverage maps before broader expansion.
What’s next: staff will finalize the three‑year agreement and continue to report on operational results and metrics to the council.
