Huntley Police present new tech at Village Board meeting
HUNTLEY — Huntley’s Deputy Chief Amy Williams presented two technology related resolutions that would waive the competitive bid process for the lease of License Plate Readers and replacement officer-worn body cameras and additional video support equipment at the April 13 Village Board meeting.
Williams stated, “The use of License Plate Readers (LPR) is extremely beneficial when responding to calls for service such as stolen vehicles, residential burglaries, retail thefts, acts of violence as well as missing persons. LPRs are a great tool to assist in tracking criminals and their movements. LPRs capture searchable data including license plate numbers, vehicle make, model, color and unique features including bumper stickers, decals and roof racks.”
She continued, “the Flock Safety solution was selected as it contains state of the art technology. Flock Safety provides objective, real‐time and investigation leads through the vehicle’s fingerprint. Flock Safety provides information specific to the vehicle. The system does not provide any information on people including facial type recognition or traffic violations.”
Williams concluded, “LPRs would be mounted on all major thoroughfares coming in and out of the Village. Seventeen LPRs will be on a four-year lease for a total cost of $187,150.”
Chief Porter commented that “I’m a big believer in LPRs. I think it gives us another enforcement tool. I do recommend that the LPRs be purchased.”
Trustee Kanakaris asked about the four-year term. Williams replied, “It’s a four-year lease and at the end the cameras either go away or a new lease is signed.” She added, “we’ve just discovered that there are grant opportunities available to cover some of the cost.”
Trustee Leopold asked if “it is a full-service lease.” Williams stated that it is. Leopold also asked, “how much data will it capture?” Williams replied that “it will capture every license plate and any other identifying information on every vehicle that passes by a camera.”
Leopold also asked if the cameras will help in solving crimes, to which Williams responded that “if a vehicle is identified as being used in a crime the information will be added into the system. The location of the vehicle will be reported if it passes any of the LPRs.”
The board unanimously approved the resolution and the lease agreement.
Chief Porter then introduced “the second component of the fully integrated solution is body cameras, in-squad video systems and digital storage.”
In her presentation, Williams pointed out that “As of January 1, 2025 the village must be in compliance with the State of Illinois’ Officer-Worn Body Camera Act. In addition the current in‐squad camera system is nearing its end of life. Moving towards a cloud‐based digital evidence storage solution is a current police strategic planning goal. The Officer‐Worn Body Camera, In‐Squad Video System, and Digital Storage will all work in conjunction with each other under the Axon Enterprise, Inc. environment.”
After annotating the features and benefits of the Axon equipment, Williams presented the financial impact of the purchases. She said, “Funds for the purchase are budgeted for in the Police Department Commodities budget. The cost for Fiscal Year 23 is $105,587.03. For FY24‐FY27, the yearly cost is $95,611.95. For FY23, the cost is $67,996.59 for the Officer‐Worn Body Camera and $37,590.44 for the In‐Squad Video System. The cost of digital storage is included in the two systems. For FY24‐FY27, the breakdown is $63,021.51 per year for the Officer‐Worn Body Camera and $32,590.44 per year for the In‐Squad Video System.”
Trustee Westford asked, “Are we buying more than we need today because in 2025 all officers will need to have one and we might have more officers then.” Williams replied that “we are buying two spares at this time.”
Trustee Kanakaris asked, “Is this a purchase or lease like the LPRs?” Williams said that “it is a lease in and at the end of the lease in 2027 it could be renewed.” Kanakaris asked “if we renew the lease will we get new cameras?” Williams said that “the cameras would be upgraded when the lease is renewed.”
The board unanimously approved the lease agreement.
