The Macon County Commission Monday debated the use of vehicle license plate reader cameras in their final meeting of the year at Lafayette City Hall.
鈥淩ight now, we鈥檙e in the stage of analyzing what is good for our county, and what we can afford,鈥 Sheriff Joey Wilburn said. 鈥淥nce we decide what is best, they will draft a contract. Between the contract and execution of the program is somewhere around four or five months. There is no cost until they鈥檙e ready for installation. What I鈥檓 wanting to go ahead and do is get the approval to enter into contract, and then when it comes time to fund it, we can decide at that point. If at that time we decide against moving forward because of funds or whatever reason, there will be no actual cost to us.
鈥淎ll the LPRs do is capture the plates, and detailed photos of the vehicle itself,鈥 said Wilburn. 鈥淲e will be able to search the flock system for details pertaining to the particular vehicle we are looking for. We are aware that there are ways around the plates being read, but we are able to type into the database actual characteristics of the vehicle such as color, damage the vehicle may have, things like that.鈥
Macon County Attorney Guy Holliman addressed concerns about liability.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really not exposing us to liability,鈥 said Holliman. 鈥淭he thing that is going to become an issue is whether at some point and time is when the sheriff and attorney general鈥檚 office is trying to make a case where the criminal defendant claims that it was an unreasonable search and seizure without a warrant, and that that evidence should be suppressed. I think it鈥檚 a handy tool for law enforcement to have. We really don鈥檛 have that much exposure, but I will say this: there was a case earlier this year down around Lewisburg or Lawrenceburg where there was a warrantless search of a home, and the jury came back with about a half-million-dollar verdict against the county. That鈥檚 kind of a different situation because it was a home, and not a vehicle. You have less protected interest with a vehicle. It鈥檚 one of those situations where you kind of look at it and say, given the law enforcement benefits with a tool like this and compared to our exposure, you almost say the benefit is worth the exposure. The big issue will be the cost.鈥
There was a motion to go ahead and give Wilburn the green light to move forward with creating contract between the Sheriff鈥檚 department and the Flock program. Commissioners Tony Wix, Michael Slayton, Phillip Snow and Kevin Wooten voted against the motion.
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