BUDA — Several months after the installation approval, Buda City Council received an update on the status of automatic license plate reader cameras.
The update, requested by council member Terry Cummings, was provided by Buda Police Chief Bo Kidd during the Jan. 3 council meeting.
The council officially approved the Flock Safety cameras in August 2022. Now, they are on the way to being installed in six different locations in Buda, including Cabela’s Drive, FM 1626, FM 967, FM 2770 near the new Fire Station 1 and two on west and east Main Street.
The city first started considering license plate reader cameras last year, raising some concerns within the community about privacy.
Ultimately, the police department ensured that the cameras would be used to help solve and prevent crime when necessary, and that no personal data would be collected or used in ordinary, everyday occurrences. Data collected by the cameras are purged after 30 days.
The cameras are currently fully funded through a $20,000 grant by the Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority under a one-year agreement. Following this period, the cost of the cameras would be $15,000 if council approves to keep them. Maintenance is also covered by Flock.
Buda’s Garlic Creek neighborhood already had these cameras installed, per its HOA. During the meeting, Kidd said that there have been a few successful hits thanks to those cameras, including recovering a stolen vehicle and a hit on a wanted subject.
Still, Kidd pointed out that the Garlic Creek cameras have ultimately garnered sporadic information, as “there’s not a high volume of traffic going through.” Additionally, not all of the hits captured have ended successfully, though this can’t be entirely attributed to the cameras.
The six locations proposed in this agreement, however, offer more promising results.
“I would expect once we get these cameras, or even a few of the cameras up, we’re going to see a large volume of traffic. That will be the true indicator of what these cameras can do,” Kidd said.
Several council members requested that they be provided data reports to ensure the camera’s efficacy before taxpayers help pay for them.
“We’re trying to rate the efficacy of the system itself,” council member Matt Smith said. “I go back to weighing this in the future to active community policing and having that extra officer on the street versus this electronic monitoring … When we look at the costs of this, I’d like to see the entire picture … That’s the type of information that I think’s going to be extremely helpful, and then I think we can drill down into the success rate … I want to be able to communicate out that it’s not any type of profiling. It’s data-based decisions.”
“Moving forward, I think what council is saying is that we’re wanting to have a more comprehensive report so as our cameras start capturing this data, that information is being provided to us in a manner so that we can make the assessment that the utilization is worth the cost,” council member LaVonia Horne-Williams added.
Kidd agreed, noting that he anticipates going into the next budget year’s first or second workshop with enough information for council to be able to make a decision on the future of the cameras.
As for the current status of the cameras, Kidd said he hopes that at least “five of the six cameras,” if not all six, will be installed this month.
