Thanks to funding from the Project Safe Neighborhood Grant for Software, the Hardin County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) is heading into the future with new technology to help fight crime.
March 11, the Hardin County Commissioners Court approved $20,000 for HCSO to purchase a software package for use in monitoring surveillance cameras from Flock Safety Inc. of Atlanta, Georgia.
The Beaumont Police Department’s (BPD) Real-Time Crime Center (RTCC) uses software from Flock Safety, and Sheriff Mark Davis said the software HCSO will use is “similar in nature.”
While BPD uses technology to access cameras installed at homes, businesses, churches, etc., Davis said his department will use the technology for single-use cameras that are deployable for covert or undercover investigations.
“Let’s just say we had a city park that was a hangout for gangs and there had been shootings or violence, and we wanted to drop a camera up there, we would get a court order to do some surveillance,” Davis explained.
Davis said HCSO will purchase five cameras that can also be used as license plate readers (LPR).
“If we put up a roadway camera with a license plate reader a patrol vehicle of a patrolman that runs up and down the road, when that LPR camera reads a license plate of someone who’s got felony warrants, it gives (the officer) an alert,” Davis further explained, adding that he expects the cameras to be operational in the near future – likely less than six months.
The software package, signed for a contract term of 12 months with a renewal term of 24 months, includes:
• “FlockOS-Essentials, an integrated public safety platform that detects, centralizes and decodes actionable evidence to increase safety, improve efficiency and connect the community.
• “Flock Safety Falcon, a law enforcement grade infrastructure-free (solar power + LTE) license plate recognition camera with Vehicle Fingerprint technology (proprietary machine learning software) and real-time alerts for unlimited users. LTE or long-term evolution is a technology for wireless broadband communication for mobile devices, designed to improve the performance and efficiency of mobile broadband networks.
• “Solar Falcon LR, similar to Flock Safety Falcon with LTE, is solar power only but AC power is also available, if needed.”
Some of the software features are:
• “Ability to request direct access to feeds from privately owned Flock Safety Falcon LPR cameras located in neighborhoods, schools, and businesses in the community, significantly increasing actionable evidence that clears cases.
• “Allows agencies to look up license plates on all cameras opted into the Flock Safety network within the state.
• “Agencies can leverage a nationwide system boasting 10 billion additional plate reads per month to amplify the potential to collect vital evidence in otherwise dead-end investigations.
• “Search full, partial and temporary plates by time at particular device locations and look up specific license plate location history captured on Flock devices.