Town officials last week approved a five-year, $140,000 contract with an Atlanta-based company for license plate readers for the New Canaan Police Department.
The Board of Selectmen voted 3-0 during its regular meeting Oct. 3 for the contract with Flock Safety for hardware and software services.
NCPD currently has 10 license plate readers, Police Chief John DiFederico said at the meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference.
“They’ve proven useful for us,” he said. “We’ve solved a number of situations with them—a hit-and-run with a pedestrian downtown, some stolen vehicles, assisted in other [cases].”
First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Selectmen Kathleen Corbet and Nick Williams voted in favor of the contract, which breaks down to $28,000 per year.
Williams noted that it has been about a dozen years since the town first purchased license plate readers—a widely discussed initiative at the time on the Town Council, where some members raised concerns about privacy and data storage.
DeFederico noted that the first set of license plate readers back then were “vehicle-mounted” models.
“The technology is much better,” the chief said.
The selectmen asked whether the town has received license plate readers and support services under 5-year contracts in the past (no).
Williams noted that the Parking Bureau and its enforcement officers also use license plate readers.
DiFederico said that’s “a totally different system” and as well as a database “that we don’t share with them, and they don’t share with us.”