Peru officials discuss buying new license plate reader cameras

Peru Police Chief Sarah Raymond is looking to add a couple additional license plate reader cameras in the city.

Officials discussed the potential purchase of new license plate reader equipment near Interstate 80 and Route 251 during Monday’s Public Services Committee meeting.

Raymond said the city has 10 of these Flock safety cameras around town, and it has been “extremely beneficial” in numerous investigations, including outside jurisdictions.

The license plate reader cameras take a photograph of license plates and can trigger alerts on wanted, stolen or missing vehicles. They also can be used as a resource to catch fleeing suspects.

“We’ve made several arrests with them, daily at times, for different things – traffic violations, anything from stolen vehicles to suspended registration to suspects in cases other places, including our own investigations,” Raymond said.

However, she said, there are a few areas in which the city can improve by installing additional cameras.

“We lose a lot of sight on [Route] 251 and Interstate 80,” she said, “because the cameras only span so far.”

Raymond proposed that the city buy two additional cameras to assist in rectifying a few of the blind spots in those proposed areas.

The rate for each camera is $2,500, with the price of each camera increasing to $3,000 in 2024.

Raymond said that if the city chooses to buy the two cameras, it will get the 2023 rate and lock it in for five years. If the city takes the five-year contract, it will pay $153,800 over five years. That includes the installation of the cameras.

Alderman Tom Payton said that when the city first installed Flock cameras, officials were unsure whether the cameras would give full coverage. They discovered there were gaps, so there is no issue with adding two more cameras, he said.

Alderman Jason Edgcomb said the areas that need additional coverage are four-lane roads. He said he has seen the benefits of having the cameras, and it’s starting to grow in the communities around Peru.

“Yeah, we share cameras all over,” Raymond said. “They share with us, we share with them.”

Raymond said there are other blind spots, and the city most likely would be asking for additional cameras within the next two years.

Alderman Mike Sapienza said that if the council knows the price of the cameras is going up and the police will be asking for more cameras within the next few years, they should strike now, while they still can get the cameras at the cheaper price.

Committee members said they were willing to allow the purchase of four new cameras, but it seemed two already may have been “stretching the budget.”

“We had budgeted $20,400,” finance officer Tracy Mitchell said. “The bill came in at $27,500, so we are $6,000 over budget for fiscal ‘24. We have not begun fiscal ‘25.”

The committee told Raymond to go back to her team and discuss how many they would need in the future so they could look at the budget.

Streaming committee meetings

Edgcomb, the committee chair, asked the aldermen whether they wanted to continue committee meetings offline or if they would like the committee to be put back online.

“As I mentioned, when I was asked about in the paper and by every other person who has asked me, I don’t care one way or another,” he said. “But I did tell several people who called [that] I would ask.”

Alderman Rick O’Sadnick said that he agreed but they may need a pro and con list. Edgcomb said one of the cons would be the way they choose to set up the meetings because sometimes they exceed scheduled times.

Sapienza said the committees could move their closed sessions to the end of meetings instead of at the end of each committee.

Edgcomb said the committee didn’t need an answer immediately.