Neosho County commissioners Tuesday heard from Neosho County Sheriff Greg Taylor regarding traffic cameras and the commission approved the purchase of five for the county. Taylor said the Chanute Police Department asked him to come to a meeting to discuss license plate reader cameras created by Flock Safety. “These are cameras that they put out throughout the city,” Taylor said. “End up being five of them. Essentially a vehicle goes by that’s got a NCIC, you know, it’s wanted for stolen vehicle or an Amber Alert as it’s coming into their jurisdiction. Those cameras would read the plate, send their jurisdiction notification, ‘Hey, this vehicle just came into your jurisdiction,’ so that they could try to get it stopped.” The five cameras’ total cost is $15,000. Commission chair Gail Klaassen said she thought it was a good price for the five cameras. “It’s one year at a time so you’re not locked into a long-term contract. You can evaluate and see if it’s actually worthwhile or not,” Taylor said of the cameras. “What makes this probably the most enticing thing: You get access to their nationwide system.” Taylor said officials had discussed obtaining five for Neosho County. “Essentially on the main thoroughfares coming into Neosho County, like north and south 169 Highway, same one on 59 Highway and then this other one on 47 coming into Neosho County. Because 39 will all get covered by Chanute,” Taylor said. “We have quite a bit of money still left over in the Pilot fund.” Taylor said that funding could be used to pay for the first year. The cameras also will give the sheriff’s office the ability to see how many cars are coming to and through the county each day on the highways, Taylor said. It also will help the department with ongoing investigations, Taylor thought.
Source: The Chanute Tribune
