NAPLES, Fla. — The City of Naples is looking to get more license plate reading cameras to help them keep a look-out for suspicious vehicles. This week, city council will consider a request by the Naples Police Department to spend $228,000 to add forty of the cameras to the city's streets.
The cameras scan the license plates of passing vehicles. The tags can then be run through law enforcement databases, which alert police of any vehicles that are stolen - and people who are wanted.
"It also works after the fact," said Naples Police Chief Tom Weschler. "If a crime takes place, we can review the cameras to identify the car, the tag and registered owner."
"There has been a lot of success over the time that we've used (the cameras,)" he added.
There are already eighteen of the license plate reading cameras along the streets of Naples. The forty additional cameras would more than triple the current number.
When the initial cameras were approved in 2017, the cost was more than $400,000. Weschler said that improvements in technology since then are bringing costs way down.
"We had to use a lot of fiber optics," he said. "Now we can get away with not using as much fiber optics."
Weschler said the cameras are not to catch people running red lights, or for any kind of traffic enforcement.
Drivers in Naples had mixed opinions about the LPR cameras.
"I don't like the idea," said Melissa Wesoloski. "I think they could use the information anyway that they want."
Another Naples woman who said her name is Linda added:
"When you're in public on the street, it's fair game with cameras, because there's no expectation of privacy."
The money for the cameras would come from the city's Public Service Capital Project fund. City council members are expected to vote on whether to approve the funding at their regular meeting Wednesday.
