DAYTON — Dayton leaders approved plans to bring more license plate readers to the city.
That decision came after the mayor and city commission listened to plenty of feedback from the community.
The city commission voted 3 to 2 to approve a five-year more than $825,000 contract with Flock Group Inc.
The plan is to install 35 automated license plate readers and help maintain the 37 cameras already set up in the city.
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“It’s giving me a feeling of an authoritarian, surveillance country if we can use some of that money for training, programs,” one resident said at the meeting.
“We have a lot of drug dealing, a lot of crime in that area so we welcome having the camera system in our neighborhood,” another resident said.
Dayton police have said its department uses the technology to identify cars and license plates connected to criminal activity.
“Homicide investigations, the program proved pivotal in several homicide cases,” Joe Parlette, deputy city manager said.
But Commissioner Darryl Fairchild who voted against the expansion said there must be some other way to improve public safety.
“I can tell you right now these flock reads aren’t going to solve the issues our neighborhood leaders are coming to us tonight to address,” Fairchild said.
The additional 35 units will go downtown in Belmont and the historic Huffman neighborhood.
No word yet on when the additional cameras will be installed.
We will continue following this story.