More security cameras will be added along League City roads and in public places after an upsurge of vehicle break-ins at parks, according to city officials.
The city council recently approved an updated agreement with private security camera company Flock Safety to install an additional 28 cameras from a first installment of 42, which was completed in August.
The cameras will cost the city $70,000 over the next five years, a cut in costs from a previous agreement that had the city paying $3,000 for each camera as part of a project to deter crime.
The new agreement includes the use and installation of the 28 cameras: eight to be placed at city parks, and 20 to be installed at various roadways in response to an increase of break-ins at these locations, according to city agenda documents.
The automated license plate reader cameras are designed to read and photograph the license plates of vehicles leaving an area where a crime has been reported or suspected.
According to League City Police Department Captain Harold Lee, Flock Safety announced that the price of automated license plate reader cameras would increase in 2024 from $2,500 to $3,000.
Because of the success of the program, the city moved to install 20 more cameras before the price increase, Lee said. Long included an additional eight for the parks as part of the agreement.
The installation of the cameras will begin in early 2024, according to Lee.
When the city wrapped up the installation of 42 cameras earlier this year, Lee said most of the public feedback was positive but that some people raised concerns about the potential misuse of the technology, the Chronicle reported.
Savannah Kumar, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, previously told the Chronicle that law enforcement's use of surveillance technologies such as Flock cameras could potentially infringe on people's right to privacy.
Lee said previously that the cameras would not monitor people's everyday activities. Non-criminal activity captured on cameras would be erased after 30 days, he said.
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