Oswego police are preparing to use an automatic license plate reader system that will become available through Kendall County, village officials said.
KenCom, the county’s 911 Emergency Public Safety Dispatch Center, last year contracted with a vendor to lease license plate reader cameras to be installed at various locations throughout Kendall County, according to Oswego officials.
Oswego trustees recently authorized Oswego Police Chief Jeff Burgner to sign a memorandum of understanding between the police department and the vendor, Flock Safety of Atlanta, in preparation for the roll-out of the county’s automatic license plate reader system.
Trustees further authorized the police chief to sign a resolution that establishes an intergovernmental agreement between the village, the KenCom Executive Board and Kendall County Emergency Phone Service and Communications Board.
The vote on the issue was 5-1, with Trustees Terry Olson, Kit Kuhrt, Tom Guist, Jennifer Jones Sinnot and Brian Thomas voting in favor. Trustee James Marter voted the other way.
The Oswego Police Department needs its own personalized dashboard to request camera access from KenCom, Oswego Director of Technology Joe Renzetti said in a report to trustees.
KenCom is the owner of the license plate reader cameras in the county, and it needs to maintain access and credentials to its dashboard, Renzetti said.
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“For Oswego to gain access to these cameras, a memorandum of understanding needs to be executed so that Oswego can own and maintain a Flock Safety portal tailored to the village,” Renzetti said.
The Oswego Police Department will be able to lease some of its own cameras, he said.
“This option will also allow the village to lease additional cameras directly from Flock Safety if we feel there is a future need to expand the program within the village of Oswego,” Renzetti said.
Burgner gave presentations last fall and summer to gauge whether trustees had an interest in the use of license plate readers, which he said help police locate stolen vehicles and aid with other investigations.
The equipment can be used in real time to identify vehicles that are stolen or have been identified as suspect vehicles in crimes, police officials have said.
A number of police agencies throughout the region use license plate readers, including Elgin and Naperville, according to village officials.
Marter said he has general concerns about the use of license plate readers. He requested staff members and the village attorney look at policies adopted by other villages that Oswego could consider to prevent any potential “misuse” of the cameras.
“An audit in Vermont noted that about 11% of all searches through (such) systems did not comply with state usage and a 2020 audit in California noted many agencies did not implement privacy protective oversight measures,” he said.
Marter said he also has concerns about the storage of data.
“Flock Safety retains the data for 30 days and then it is deleted,” Burgner said.
The police chief said the purpose of the memorandum of understanding with Flock Safety is to allow the department to gain access to the company’s database and create a user account.
“We are not entering into an agreement with Flock in this particular (memorandum) where we would have cameras capturing data. That’s a separate contract that KenCom has with Flock which is much more in-depth on the concerns you brought up regarding who owns the data,” Burgner said.
Flock does not sell the data and the information being collected does not have personal information aside from images of vehicles or a license plate, Burgner said.
In addition, there are no associated names or addresses that are captured by the vendor, Burgner said.
“It would be up to the police agencies within some other investigative means to run the plate … and get the information,” Burgner said.
As for the village’s policies concerning license plate readers, officials “are in the final phase of creating our internal policies,” Burgner said.
“It is definitely not too late for me to add things that you have mentioned that we have not captured. We are going to have within our own policy an audit process where we would audit our use,” Burgner said.
“In our audits, we would make sure (readers are) being used appropriately. If we found there were inappropriate uses, there will be accountability measures in place,” Burgner said.
Burgner said he will bring back the village’s final policy on the issue to trustees.
“I appreciate your questions. This is an open book for me and that’s why I have brought it to the board,” he said. “We want to be transparent. I do understand the privacy concerns you bring up. I appreciate those (concerns).”
Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.