The Oroville City Council has approved a two-year contract to install 40 license plate cameras equipped with microphones throughout the city.
Oroville Police Chief Bill LaGrone said the 40 cameras will help police with criminal investigations. They will be placed on main traffic arteries of the city including entrances and exits to Highway 99.
The contract is between the city and Flock Safetyfor $333,750, which includes installation for the 40 cameras with audio capabilities, maintenance, cloud storage and software updates.
LaGrone described the technology of the cameras to be capable of capturing still photos of vehicles which can be searched on a database, not only for license plate numbers but also for visual identifiers like bumper stickers or make and model — license number not required.
The cameras’ microphones will also be able to triangulate the location of gunshots to an accuracy within 90 feet.
“You can put in a car and say, ‘I’m looking for a white ’95 Honda with three bumper stickers’ and it will look through and will give you all of those ... and it will give you an investigative lead,” LaGrone said. “I believe it is a force multiplier. ... It essentially gives you at least one set of eyes and ears of listening for gunshots.”
LaGrone said he’s received privacy concerns with the audio captured by the system, and he said the system isn’t looking for human voices nor will it have facial recognition; rather it will try to detect the sound of a gunshot and will capture photos without identifying technologies.
“The camera does not collect personal identifying information. ... What we’re trying to do is locate the vehicle. The identity of the person in possession of the vehicle will be determined when the stop is made or when recovery of the vehicle occurs,” LaGrone said.
He said the camera data will be stored for 30 days before it is deleted, and the cameras are not capable of a live video feed.
LaGrone showed that nearly 100 California cities have contracted Flock Safety for license plate cameras and cited a study by Vacaville that found a 33 percent decrease in reported vehicle thefts and a 35 percent increase in arrests for vehicle thefts.
(c)2023 Chico Enterprise-Record. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
