New safety cameras doing their jobs

More than a dozen license plate scanners now operating in city

The Mentor community is already reaping the rewards of new crime-solving aids installed around town.

Thirteen of 15 Flock Safety System cameras are now operating at strategic locations in the city and have led to at least three arrests. Cases involved a stolen vehicle, which was recovered, an outstanding warrant and possession of drugs.

There have been other notifications for stolen vehicles and warrants that police have tried to track down as well.

“We are not always able to locate the vehicle by the time we get to the last known location,” Chief Ken Gunsch said.

One of the final two cameras to go live will be solar-powered, and the vendor is configuring it and several others in the county to work more efficiently.

“As the remaining cameras come online and the officers complete training, I anticipate more activity attributed to the Flock system,” the chief said. “We have set up a tracking system so we will be able to determine at the end of the year how much enforcement activity was a direct result of Flock notifications.”

The devices are designed to read the license plates of every passing automobile.

“These readers will continuously scan tens of thousands of vehicles daily and automatically run those plates through the FBI’s National Crime Information Center via a Cloud server,” City Manager Ken Filipiak said, at his state of the city address last month. “If a hit occurs, our police officers are immediately notified in their vehicles and can quickly attempt an apprehension. The cameras also a provide video recording of the vehicles, which can serve as both evidence and aid in establishing an investigation timeline.” It is common for criminals to steal a car in one city and drive it to another in order to commit a worse crime, he noted.