Bridgeport agrees to one-year vehicle camera study

Douglas County Sheriff Kevin Morris

BRIDGEPORT – The city has agreed to participate in a one-year study using vehicle security cameras provided by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.

Douglas County Sheriff Kevin Morris addressed the city council at its regular monthly meeting on Sept. 18, at the invitation of Mayor Sergio Orozco, to explain the program being funded by grant dollars.

Flock Safety provides cameras that photograph vehicles and license plates. There are about 400 such cameras distributed statewide. The City of Brewster recently installed six of its own.

“We applied for a grant from WATPA (Washington Auto Theft Prevention Authority) which is through WASFC (Washington Association of Police Chiefs),” said Morris. “We were awarded half of what we asked for.”

The grant will pay for a one-year study using six cameras throughout Douglas County. In addition to Orondo, Waterville, and Rock Island, Morris wants to place two of the six in Bridgeport. 

For those concerned about Big Brother 

“This system requires a criminal investigation for any of our police officers to look at it,” said Morris explaining the boundaries that prevent abuse of privacy rights.

Morris cited the case of a 10-year-old Yakima girl who was abducted, sexually assaulted, given $40 by her abductor, and released. The incident was reported to police, and using very basic information she provided – the car color was the same as her mother’s car, and the vehicle was a little bit bigger – authorities were able to narrow the suspect vehicle down to three cars.

“Then they started looking at the system for those cars and their routes and were able to identify one vehicle within that area for several days,” said Morris. “He was going around all the schools. They tracked him and, the following day, caught the individual. That was very compelling.”

The self-contained, solar, weatherproof cameras are also self-monitoring for such maintenance items as battery life. They can be mounted on PUD poles, or Flock provided poles. 

Morris recommends a camera at each end of town to monitor vehicles coming and going.

“It is an extremely cheap force multiplier,” said Morris. “It is like me putting a deputy on a street corner who is paying attention 24 hours a day.”

Morris said he would like to have the six cameras in place by the end of the year. Once the study is completed, Morris will return to the council to ask if the city wants to continue using the cameras. The city would then pick up the annual tab of $3,000 per camera.

Mayor Orozco recommends the camera in light of recent criminal incidents and activity in the city.

“It probably would have been a good tool to have at that time,” said Orozco. “There would have been a quicker response to them.”

Councilmember Mike Bjornstad said he supports more security.

“It sounds like a good tool to me,” said Bjornstad, “I would bring six into town, not a problem.”

Morris said he would work with Flock and Public Works Superintendent Stuart Dezellem on the best potential camera installation sites.”

Mike Maltais: 360-333-8483 or michael@ward.media