Arlington’s police chief intends to continue defending automated license-plate readers amid evolving conversations about the technology.
Despite the County Board’s recent vote to remove all Flock Safety cameras from public land in Arlington, at an Oct. 13 presentation to the Arlington County Civic Federation, Police Chief Andy Penn said that similar surveillance technology performs valuable work.
“I’ve been public about that. I’m a big supporter,” Penn said.
His remarks came about three weeks after he and Aaron Miller, the deputy county manager, both defended using license-plate readers following the Board’s action to deactivate and remove equipment operated on the county’s behalf by Flock Safety. That equipment included 41 cameras; 26 Falcon (license-plate reader) models and 15 Condor (pan-tilt-zoom-style) models.
County Manager Mark Schwartz, who also was at the Sept. 22 meeting, largely stayed silent but did not act to rein in his two staff members.
At the Oct. 13 Civic Federation meeting, Penn said the uses of automated license-plate readers go beyond addressing crime. He pointed to cases where individuals with dementia could be located using the available technology.
“It has a wide range of uses,” Penn said.
At the Civic Federation meeting, Penn said he would continue to press his views on the matter as county leaders discuss it.
“It’s an important conversation to have,” he said.
At the meeting, the police chief also noted a generally downward trend in crime during the past year.
Crimes against people so far this year are down about 2.5% compared to the same period last year. Property crimes are down even more, with shoplifting dropping by 20% and purse snatching decreasing by 47%.
“We had a major increase in shoplifting [in recent years]. I think things have sort of right-sized there,” Penn said.
