JACKSON, Wyo. — In a narrow 3-2 vote, the Jackson Town Council approved a contract with Flock Group Inc. to install a proposed 30 license plate reader (LPR) cameras within the Town of Jackson.
The item was originally brought forward to the council on May 15 during a workshop. At that time, Jackson Police Chief Michelle Weber included information about the use of drones by the department but the items have since been separated. The use of drone technology will be discussed at a later meeting.
According to the staff report submitted by the Jackson Police Department (JPD), automated LPR cameras capture computer-readable images of license plates and vehicles.
JPD has used LPRs since 2015 to enforce parking restrictions. The additional cameras will be used for parking control, stolen vehicle investigations, amber alert cases and other investigations to determine what vehicles might have been at the scene of a crime.
“We use cameras for almost every investigation,” Weber said.
According to JPD, they are currently investigating two large Transnational Organized Crime (TOC) groups that have come through Jackson and created dozens of cases/victims. These TOC groups use various techniques to commit crimes before rapidly leaving the area to avoid detection.
“The LPR cameras could be the link to the case that local law enforcement needs,” states the staff report.
JPD also cited the Gaby Petito case as an example of how LPR cameras could have saved investigators time.
“The Petito case had our investigations unit chasing down private cameras across our
Town in an attempt to find her van,” states the staff report. “Hours upon hours of time were spent scouring these videos in hopes of creating a timeline. An LPR camera would have captured the van’s license plate and provided investigators the starting point they need to narrow their scope of investigation and in turn, would have cut back on countless hours of work.”
According to JPD, LPR does not include facial recognition capabilities and does not capture personally identifiable information.
Weber said they will share the locations of the cameras but will not have input into where Flock and WYODT chose to place them. Twenty-eight of the LPRs will be fixed cameras and two will be portable cameras.
The initial payment is $184,800 and was approved in the budget. The technology also includes an annual maintenance cost of $87,500.
Vice Mayor Arne Jorgensen said he could not support the contract due to the reoccurring funding required but wasn’t opposed to the technology in general. He voted against the motion along with Mayor Hailey Morton Levinson.
“What makes me not in support is these cameras become public information, which is different than the cameras that are out there now,” Morton Levinson said. “I can see a lot of benefits and I can see that it’s part of the world now, we have cameras everywhere. At this time im not going to support it, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t revisit it later.”
Councilmembers also shared concerns about surveillance and the sharing of data with other jurisdictions, but ultimately seemed to agree that privacy in the public space is minimal in this day and age.
Jessica Sell Chambers said she has traditionally been “anti-surveillance” but said “that ship has sailed,” referencing that everyone walks around with a phone in their pocket.
Jim Rooks said, “Our expectation of privacy when we leave our home should be very little.”
Rooks added a condition to the motion that this initiative would come before the Town Council on an annual basis to report measurements of success.
