Gahanna has joined a growing list of Ohio communities using cameras that read license plates.
The motion-activated Flock Safety cameras take a picture of the back of a vehicle as it passes. Police use that information to look for vehicles suspected of being involved in criminal activity.
Around 270 law enforcement agencies in Ohio use the automatic license plate readers, according to Flock. Locally, that includes Reynoldsburg and Whitehall. The Ohio State University also has about 60 Flock cameras among its nearly 5,000 security cameras on or near campus.
The cameras are also used by neighborhood associations, schools and businesses.
“As other cities, other suburban agencies, began deploying these cameras, we started seeing the successes of them,” said Gahanna Police Chief Jeffrey Spence.
Spence said Gahanna, like many other central Ohio communities, has seen a marked increase in vehicle thefts. He said the cameras will help track those stolen vehicles.
Spence also said people have become numb to vehicle thefts, but that they have a real impact on the victims, who need their cars to get to work and social events.
“There's a real impact on our community, on our residents in terms of their quality of life,” Spence said.
The license-plate reading cameras will also help track vehicles involved in child abduction cases and missing person alerts, Spence said.
The cameras do not do facial recognition and are not designed to track people, Spence said. Data collected by the cameras is stored by Flock and deleted every 30 days.
Gahanna has installed three cameras so far, but will eventually have 21.
“Those 21 cameras that we're deploying in Gahanna are 21 additional sets of eyes,” Spence said.
The cameras come with at an up-front cost of about $100,000, which includes installation. Some run on solar power, while others are tapped into the city’s power grid.
Going forward, the cameras will cost about $70,000 annually for maintenance and “back end” costs for the license recognition programs, Spence said.
