By DAVE SCHULTZ
A little more than a year after he first proposed the idea during a meeting of the Board of Public Works and Safety, Bluffton Police Chief Kyle Randall will formally request permission to purchase trafffic monitoring cameras.
The cameras, which would be purchased from Flock Safety, would photograph license plates and search data bases to see if the vehicles were reported stolen or otherwise connected to a crime. They would also be used to identify vehicles reported to be involved with Amber Alerts, for finding missing children, and Silver Alerts, for finding missing senior citizens.
Randall first made the presentation to the Board of Works in early February of 2021. The decision was made at that time to wait for the budget process to fully discuss the proposal.
It never really came up during the budget hearings, even through Randall had written it into the Police Department’s budget. As things stand right now, the money for the cameras — $10,000 to lease four of the cameras for a year and another $1,000 for the necessary software — is in the budget and Randall will come before the Board of Works late Tuesday afternoon to ask permission to lease them.
“With Flock Safety’s guidance, my plan is to place cameras along roadways within our community,” Randall said in an email. When the use of the cameras was first proposed, Randall preferred locating them at either end of the Main Street/Ind. 1 bridge, another on Wabash Street, and another on Ind. 111 east of Main Street.
That plan could change, however.
“Initially, I preferred surrounding our choke-point of the Main Street bridge with the cameras;” he said. “However, I am open to other locations based on Flock’s experience in other communities.”
Board of Works members Scott Mentzer and Roger Thornton indicated their support when the idea was considered last year. Mayor John Whicker, the third member of the Board of Works, was most concerned about the finances at that time.
The Board of Works meets at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall.
daves@news-banner.com
