Community Involvement

As I wrote in in my 2/22 email, ALPRs (Automated License Plate Reader) were the most discussed item at the February council meeting. It was apparent that there was significant community support for installing ALPRs so the council directed staff to draft a resolution for a pilot project.

I was skeptical. I wanted more evidence ALPRs would really help to reduce crime and that we wouldn’t be adopting a service that would not address the problem leaving us, as a town, even more frustrated after 6 months. A group of residents strongly supporting adoption invited me to a meeting so they could present their concerns and experience. I was impressed by the thoughtful comments. Some residents spoke of their experiences with burglaries, other residents shared their expertise on security and data protection and a group of residents from the Liddicoat neighborhood described their success with installing ALPRs in their neighborhood after a series of burglaries. After that discussion, Sealy (the dog) and I walked around the neighborhood to understand how the ALPRs were deployed. This gave me a much better sense of what ALPRs will entail. At the 3/18 council meeting we voted unanimously to proceed posting an RFP for a full deployment of an ALPR system.

So why am I telling you this? A lot of good things happened between the 2/18 and 3/18 council meetings. The group of residents in favor of ALPRs worked hard to rally support. They constructively presented compelling arguments. But even more, they offered their expertise to staff to draft the resolution. We are lucky to have world-class technical experts in our town. I hope everyone feels as positive as I do about the the collaboration between staff and residents.

I mentioned this to a close friend who is a council member in a nearby town. She was flabbergasted! “Our staff doesn’t work with residents,” was her comment.

Thanks everyone!