The City of Milford has taken crime prevention on a comprehensive level by equipping the community with means of license plate reading that use solar energy. They have placed these cameras at strategic points of the Interstate Highway 95 exit ramps, as well as residential areas, in a 4-point strategic counter to increase safety. The technology would allow police officers to have real-time alerts of stolen vehicles and license plates that could transform how law enforcement responds to them. The implementation is an addition to Milford, having taken a proactive step towards these issues of vehicle theft and speeding that were on the rise.
Strategic location: How Milford set up cameras in the most effective ways
By installing license plate scanners powered by the sun, Milford has already put in place the main locations in the city where there is a high probability of criminal activity. The five cameras placed along streets and around Interstate 95 off-ramps are in areas of the five exits that lead into Milford, and in locations near schools to increase community safety.
Mayor Tony Giannattasio described the tactical side of such placements, saying that most of the incoming and outgoing traffic along the highway would, almost certainly, include stolen vehicles or stolen plates. The location close to schools helps to take care of more safety issues and develop a full coverage of surveillance that conjoins both key entry points and the sensitive community areas.
Community concerns: Residents oppose the spreading of surveillance in different ways
Although city officials view the cameras as a vital safety solution, some members of society have objected to the heightened surveillance. What bothers a Milford resident, named Nick, who has bought his house a year ago, is that this relatively small system of the traffic cameras is only a beginning on the road to the gathering of lots of information about the driver and implementation of the systems that would send him an automated ticket without having to wait until the particular traffic police confirms the fact of his infraction.
The resident has also put a particular focus on high enforcement use as opposed to technological measures, and said that he thinks more policing should be done in this area. These issues are indicative of the wider community debate of striking a balance between the benefits to society of enhanced public safety goals against the privacy interests and the potential use of technology in the police force.
That is how the city would grow its surveillance network
The scanners attached to license plates are currently only the foundation blocks of the overall safety plan of Milford. Mayor Giannattasio is still affirmative that the city will add speed and red light cameras as well in the forthcoming months to have more automated enforcement systems within the city community.
The installation of the camera is in direct response to the current resident complaints regarding speeding on the streets in the area and throughout town. Milford is utilizing the presence of license plate scanners as a creative new solution in the ongoing maintenance of safety issues that have been seen in the community over the years.
This will improve the effectiveness of the police in response ability by the system and help solve the problem of the resident complaints about violations of traffic laws and theft of vehicles, as the system has real-time alert capabilities. Although there are fears in part of the community that such a move to increase surveillance would be counterproductive, officials in the city stick to their long-standing safety plan, which would incorporate more camera systems nonetheless. This project reflects how cities are beginning to rely more and more on technology to augment time-tested law enforcement practices and make their communities safer.