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Minnehaha County sheriff outlines two-year plan to deploy license-plate readers with Flock Safety
Summary
Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office told commissioners it will partner with Flock Safety under a two-year agreement to deploy license-plate-reader cameras countywide for real-time alerts on stolen or wanted vehicles; sheriff's staff said the system will not provide live video and that the sheriff's office controls the data.
The Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office briefed the county commission on Tuesday about a planned two-year partnership with Flock Safety to install license-plate-reader cameras across parts of the county.
"I wanted to be transparent and upfront with our partnership that we're gonna be including with Flock Safety, to roll out some license plate reader cameras in Minnehaha County," said Joe Bosman of the Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office. He described the system as a tool to provide "real time awareness and availability for response to vehicles that are entered as stolen vehicles or they are wanted in connection" with crimes, AMBER alerts or wanted fugitives.
Bosman said the vendor's technology is already used in thousands of U.S. communities and that the county would be able to collaborate with nearby agencies such as the Sioux Falls Police Department so an alert from one agency can notify others. "If the Sioux Falls Police Department camera gets an alert, our deputies will be notified," he said.
Commissioners asked how the system would be staffed. Bosman said the county does not plan to add full-time employees to run a separate command center: "Our plan with this one is that all of our vehicles will be equipped with the software in their computers. So every deputy is going to be a real time crime center and analyst." He added the cameras can capture vehicles at highway speeds and operate in multiple lanes and varied lighting conditions.
Bosman addressed privacy and operational limits: the system captures snapshots of license plates rather than streaming live video, and he said the sheriff's office "owns the data" and there is no live video monitoring capability. He also said the county will select county locations for the cameras and that Flock Safety will handle permitting and installation. Bosman noted state DOT policy for state rights-of-way is still being developed, so initial deployment will avoid state ROW and focus on county right-of-way or private property agreements.
Funding for the two-year agreement was described in the briefing as coming through a grant mechanism; Bosman said the agreement is covered under grant funding for a two-year term and that the county will review results after that period.
The item was presented as a briefing; the commission did not take a vote on deployment at this meeting. Commissioners expressed general support for using technology as a force multiplier for deputies in the field.
