Lauderdale County supervisors are considering a contract extension with the county’s security camera provider after learning it could lead to savings down the road.
In a work session Thursday, Chief Deputy Ward Calhoun said Flock Safety, a security technology company that contracts with the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department, has offered to lock in the county’s current cost for service if supervisors will approve a five-year contract.
“It’s a fairly significant dollar amount, about $45,000, over the course of the five years, reduction, versus continuing what we’re doing now,” he said.
Flock currently operates about 18 cameras in Lauderdale County, Calhoun said, with five inside the Meridian city limits. Some of the cameras, he said, are in subdivisions and are paid for by residents.
At present, LCSD pays an annual fee of $2,500 per camera, Calhoun said, but that cost is set to increase to $3,000 after the first of the year without the five-year contract in place. Included in the price is the camera, maintenance, the necessary software, and any upgrades or patches that need to be installed.
The good thing about the deal is that the county doesn’t have to worry about keeping the cameras operational or replacing them when things break, Calhoun said.
“If we have a wind storm and the camera gets blown off the pole, hit by a limb or somebody comes by and shoots the thing, they just go hang another one up,” he said. “It’s not on us. They do all the maintenance. They do everything.”
Another benefit of the Flock system is the access LCSD gets to other camera networks throughout the country. That feature has come in handy more than once, Calhoun said.
“We found a runaway 12-year-old in a car about two years ago over in Alabama because of that network,” he said.
Road Manager Rush Mayatt said his department has also benefited from the system with deputies using the cameras to help investigate illegal dumping, potential break-ins and more.
Board Attorney Lee Thaggard said his Homeowner’s Association has a camera that it allows the county to connect to its Flock network. The technology allows the HOA to immediately filter out vehicles known to belong to residents, enter search parameters such as vehicle color and style and more.
“It’s a great system,” he said.
Another factor to consider, Calhoun said, is that some of the cameras are grant funded. If the grant money is not available, he said, the county will need to find the money to pay for those cameras itself.
“We’d have to find the money to pay for them, which I’d definitely want us to do. They are wonderful,” he said. “But we’d be on the hook to do that, and we just need to know that upfront.”
Supervisor Jonathan Wells said the contract sounds like a sensible way forward as the Flock camera system is useful to law enforcement and is something the county plans to continue. The Board of Supervisors will have to formally vote whether or not it wants to approve the five-year contract or pay the higher price going forward.