The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
The Township Council voted to spend nearly $340,000 on a multi-faceted surveillance system at its October 14 meeting.
The Council will pay the total over four years, with the first year’s payment being $87,225. Money for the system comes from a grant, Township Manager Robert Vornlocker said.
The contract was awarded to Atlanta, George-based Flock Safety for a gunshot detection and license plate reader and video surveillance system.
According to Flock’s web site, the system will allow law enforcement to “detect gunfire and critical sounds, instantly linking them with License Plate Readers and video to enable faster, more informed responses.”
The system includes a number of detectors that can be distributed in various parts of the township.
“Any time that you can provide information to police officers on things like random gunshots, which let’s not be naive, occur,” Vornlocker said in response to a question about the purchase from resident Beverly Lawson. “I mean, you know, I can go back to 1985 when I started to work in the police department and it was the same then as it is now.”
“All of that technology that’s now available is there to not only keep residents safe, but also aid police officers in conducting investigations,” he said. “So if there’s a grant that provides for that type of technology at no cost to the taxpayers, then I don’t know why anyone would be opposed to it.”
Councilman Carl Wright said the system is “a public safety item that the Township of Franklin could use.”
“I would think you’d want us to have it,” he said. “It’s available, it’s technology, it’s something that we could use.”
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