Westfield Lions Club donates for purchase of additional automated license plate reader
The Westfield Lions Club donated $3,160.00 for the Marquette County Sheriff's Office to
purchase and install an automated license plate reader (ALPR). The cameras are built and
managed by Flock Safety. The cameras send a real-time alert to law enforcement when a
vehicle associated with a stolen license plate, stolen vehicle, or wanted person passes through
the system. The information for the alerts is obtained from a national crime database system
called National Crime Information Center (NCIC). Flock also sends alerts if a vehicle associated
with a missing person case is captured driving past the camera. This is crucial and plays a
significant role in locating a subject of an AMBER or Silver Alert and making sure they are
returned safe to their families.
Flock Safety cameras capture license plates and vehicle characteristics, not people or faces. The
cameras are used to solve and reduce property and violent crimes and are not intended for
minor traffic or parking violations. Flock Safety cameras are used by thousands of cities across
the country and the company collaborates with over 2000 law enforcement agencies.
Communities using Flock Safety ALPR have reported crime reductions of up to 70%. Law
enforcement agencies can use the Flock Safety cameras to search full, partial, and temporary
plates by day/time at particular device locations. Marquette County will have the ability to add
license plates to a custom list and get alerted when it passes by a Flock camera, in
circumstances where there is a vehicle associated with an armed robbery, abduction, or cases
where a crime is committed.
This is the second camera to be installed in Marquette County and will be in the Westfield area.
The first camera was donated by the Montello Lions Club and is installed in the Montello area.
The Sheriff’s Office is looking for donations to purchase more cameras to place throughout the
communities in the county to help keep our citizens and visitors safe.
