Safe Neighborhood Camera Initiative

The City of Montgomery proposes to implement the Safe Neighborhood Camera Initiative. The purpose of this initiative is to is to add a system of cameras to keep our residents safe by creating a non-bias approach to collecting and analyzing data. This system will have the ability to collect and analyze data as well as notify the local law enforcement agency of the presence of vehicles which have a National Crime Information Center entry, such as stolen vehicles, vehicles associated with missing persons (including AMBER Alerts and Silver Alerts), and vehicles associated with serious felonies entered into National Crime Information Center. The system has the ability identify vehicles by features besides license plate, color and vehicle make by cataloging features such as window stickers, roof racks, sunroofs, and bumper stickers for those instances where a license plate has been removed or purposely obscured. This data can be extremely helpful in situations where very limited information is available for a suspect vehicle, with the system allowing specific searches. Project activities include installation of a system of cameras mounted in fixed locations utilizing existing utility poles or manufacturer supplied poles using solar where supplied power is not feasible. The system combines license plate reader technologies, with data analytics to determine license plate, manufacturer, color, geolocation of the passing vehicle and additionally incorporates certain audio triggers (gunshots, glass breaking, etc.). The expected outcomes include this system becoming a huge resource in providing leads on a wide variety of offenses including shootings, robberies, thefts and "hit skip" crashes. This type of technology can be extremely beneficial by providing valuable leads in a manner which assists in the removal of potential bias by police officers when conducting their investigations. By utilizing an automated system to analyze data associated with vehicles, then race, religion, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation are a non­issue and cannot be a factor for the investigating officer. This system is extremely beneficial in providing actionable leads to investigators on a large percentage of offenses which would normally be unsolvable. Current FBI estimates are that 80% of all property crime, 50% of violent crime remain unsolved and that 70% of all offenses involve a vehicle.