Keen-eyed members of the public may soon notice new cameras around town, with Chardon officials planning to install Flock cams.
Keen-eyed members of the public may soon notice new cameras around town, with Chardon officials planning to install Flock cams.
Seven cameras were included in a proposal to Chardon City Council at their May 8 meeting, six of which were license-plate reading and the final, a pan/tilt/zoom camera to monitor intersections, Chardon Police Chief Scott Niehus explained last Thursday.
Flock is a nationwide network that alerts law enforcement about vehicle plates entered into the system under circumstances such as a warrant for arrest being out on the driver or stolen car, Niehus explained.
The system can also be useful in looking for missing people, he said, adding Chardon police were already assisted by Flock in two instances of missing elderly citizens who had traveled a distance.
“It’s something a number of communities around us have explored and have actually implemented,” Niehus said. “In fact, there’s upwards of 30 Flock cameras already established in the county currently.”
This would just make that network more robust, he added.
The “criminal element” has notably avoided areas that openly advertise their Flock cameras, Niehus said.
“In some arrests that have been made, in interviews conducted … they’ve had folks tell them there’s communities they know those cameras exist and they stay out of them,” he said.
Money for the cameras will come from state opioid settlement funding, City Manager Randy Sharpe said.
The cost is about $3,000 per camera, council member Andrew Blackley said.
No vote was needed on the matter.
In other business, Sharpe provided an update on the renovations to the Geauga Theater, which is currently closed due to flood damage from a broken heat exchange unit earlier in the year.
The city has accepted the insurance company’s proposal to repair the heat coil rather than replace it, Sharpe said, adding the repair has been authorized.
Once it is done, the boilers will need to be activated. Should the boilers also need repair, another insurance claim will commence, he said.
“This is just kind of the beginning of getting us to where we need to get to,” Sharpe said.
