Clearlake City Council greenlights additional license plate readers for police department

CLEARLAKE >> The Clearlake City Council gave unanimous approval Thursday for the police to purchase additional license plate readers and came out in favor of efforts to make concealed weapons permits more accessible for city residents.

The council gave approval for an extra $60,000 to be allocated for license plate readers following a presentation by Police Chief Andrew White on the success of the program which began last year. White said the police department uses the technology to find stolen or wanted vehicles and wanted or missing persons.

“Having seen the technology play out, it’s most definitely a force multiplier for us,” he said. “As you know, hiring is very difficult for us, as well as retention, and this will directly enable officers to be more effective.”

Since December, the city has deployed 14 cameras, with four of them sponsored by local businesses. As a result, 20 stolen vehicles were recovered, an outof-state kidnap suspect was arrested, and local police gained an investigative lead in a shooting, White said.

White said he intended to place the additional cameras in the community’s “main thoroughfares.”

Councilor David Claffey was in favor of extending the program but said he wanted to have an in-depth policy discussion at some point about how the city was collecting data about residents and using it.

Vice Mayor Russ Perdock said he saw the license plate readers as a tool to improve officer safety as well as reduce costs for the city, without the need to hire officers to perform those same duties.

The council also gave staff direction to improve resident access to concealed weapons permits by providing the option of dropping off applications with the city instead of at Lake County’s offices. The city will then simply transfer the applications to the county.

The council said it was in favor of the city providing Live Scan services related to the permits. The rest of the application process, including the issuance of the permits themselves, will still be done by the county.

A member of the public who identified as Fawn Williams on Zoom said that anything the council could do to improve access to services in the city without residents needing to drive across the lake to the county was welcomed.

Councilor Joyce Overton was in favor of the direction given to staff but asked whether the change was something that the public had been asking for. Bruno Sabatier, chairman of the Lake County Board of Supervisors, also said he had never heard a complaint about the concealed weapons permit process run by the county.

Perdock, however, said he brought the item forward because he had heard residents talk about the issue. Councilor Russ Cremer said he also spoke with individuals who were interested in getting a permit. Perdock claimed that concealed weapons permits made cities safer. On that point, there are conflicting studies.

Slooten said he wouldn’t want to add any services that put additional strain on the police department or jeopardized the city’s insurance, but he was in favor of allowing residents to drop applications off with the city and providing Live Scans.

“Having seen the technology play out, it’s most definitely a force multiplier for us. As you know, hiring is very difficult for us, as well as retention, and this will directly enable officers to be more effective.”

— Police Chief Andrew White