Council Delays License Plate Scanner Purchase

The Arnold City Council decided to postpone a vote to purchase a license plate scanner for the Arnold Police Department.

The decision occurred after Ward 2 Councilman Michelle Hohmeier asked, during the July 5 meeting at , about the scanner’s operations, data storage, people’s ability to access the data and duration of data storage.

Police Chief Robert Shockey, who is also Arnold’s Interim City Administrator, said he did not have all the answers to Hohmeier’s questions but would provide all the answers to the council’s questions.

Shockey said the Arnold Police Department wants to buy one scanning system and permanently install it on a single department vehicle.

Shockey said the system uses three cameras to quickly read license plates in a parking lot, for example, then compares the information against a database containing lists of stolen or wanted license plates. Officers would need to verify the plates’ information with another officer with access to a larger statewide crime database.

The officers would take action only after another officer verbally verified the information, Shockey said.

The scanner would allow Arnold’s police officers to more quickly return stolen vehicles or license plates, Shockey said, and identify cars used in prior suspicious activities.

“The system would help us prevent crimes in Arnold,” Shockey said. Officers could search for a wanted person after the system located a suspicious car in a parking lot or Arnold street.

When Ward 2 Councilman Bill Moritz asked whether the system stored data about all scanned license plates or only suspicious license plates, Shockey said he needed to talk to the manufacturer.

“There seems to be more questions than answers,” Moritz said in reference to the scanning system.

The council agreed to postpone the issue until all their questions had been answered.

The council hoped to discuss the matter during the July 12 work session but Mayor Ron Counts said it might take more than a week of research to find answers for all the councilmen’s questions.

The system costs about $16,000. The council needs to approve $6,000 to purchase the license plate scanner system.

Shockey said the department raised about $10,000 from fundraisers and the sale of unclaimed property.