Will the Beaufort Company use cameras to find suspicious vehicles? Concerns raised before final vote

On Monday, the Beaufort County council’s finance committee gave the green light to fund 23 new license plate reading cameras and additional software that will scan the data collected for specific vehicles. A debate pitted public safety concerns against civil liberties.

Five of the 11 county council members serve on the committee and voted in favor of the project, except for council member David Bartholomew, whose comments raised privacy concerns and liability questions.

The committee approved using $262,000 over the next two years for the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office to purchase, install and maintain the cameras. The funding still needs to be approved by the full council to move forward.

During the meeting, Capt. Brian Baird, who serves as special projects officer for the Sheriff’s department, said gun violence and drive-by shootings throughout Beaufort County are top reasons for the department to explore the installation of these cameras.

shooting 14-year-old boy from Burton, Jerrieme “LJ” Washington Baird said January was a catalyst for the project.

Currently, municipalities including Hilton Head, Beaufort and Bluffton have their own cameras, Baird said.

What is recommended?

After evaluating various options from three different companies, the department decided to purchase 23 cameras from Rekor and two command connector devices from Verkada. Baird said the devices process data from cameras, allowing license plate numbers and specific times to be searched. According to the proposal, cameras will be placed in 20 different points where the crime rate is highest.

If approved by the full council, contracts for the equipment are planned to be completed by the end of this year.

Baird said if certain license plate numbers are entered into the system, such as the license plate of a stolen vehicle, the department will be notified if the license plate passes by the camera.

How are the cameras financed?

Baird said the department applied for a grant from the South Carolina Department of Public Safety to fund the project but was ultimately denied. The reason for rejection was not shared at the meeting. Because of this, the sheriff’s department had to reduce the number of cameras from 65 to 23.

The funding will instead come from the county’s American Rescue Plan Act fund, federal funds allocated for nationwide financial recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Beaufort County has been awarded $37.3 million in ARPA funding in 2022, to be determined by the end of December of this year, according to an update from Hank Amundson, special assistant to the county executive. After being allocated money for five projects, including cameras for the sheriff’s department, the fund ran out of money.

The project will cost $262,000 over two years. The two companies will seek $230,000 for the cameras and two command connector devices that will allow law enforcement to make on-air searches. Second year maintenance will cost approximately $32,000.

Baird said the department hopes to purchase additional cameras through county funds in the future.

What are the objections?

Baird said the district currently has one demo camera. The camera has already helped locate a murder suspect in Savannah, track down several stolen vehicles, and locate a dementia patient who wandered away from his home in Sun City.

Despite the result, council member David Bartholomew raised several concerns; the biggest of which was the balance between public safety and civil liberties. He asked questions about data storage, statewide rules and the use of artificial intelligence.

Daniel F. Gourley II, general counsel for the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, said there is currently no state legislation to guide them. A bill was proposed last year, but it never passed the state House of Representatives, he said.

Unlike the cameras installed by the South Carolina Department of Law Enforcement, the information collected by the cameras in Beaufort County would only be retained for 30 days. SLED is currently being sued He said the South Carolina Public Interest Foundation does so through camera networks that store information indefinitely.

Gourley said the information will also be held by a private, third-party company rather than the Sheriff’s department, meaning personal data will not be a public document under the FOIA law. There will be limitations on who can access information within the sheriff’s department, and if they want to search for something on file, it needs to be tied to a case number for an active investigation.

An audit trail is left in the company’s software programs so the sheriff’s department can see who is accessing the information and what they are looking for, Baird said.

Bartholomew said he would not support funding the project without state regulations on capturing, storing and searching data from license plate readers. He stated that the problem would be as follows: again addressed at the state level next year.

The county council will hold a regular meeting on Dec. 9 where they will discuss funding for the cameras. Baird said if the council approves the financing, he will work with the two companies to put contracts in place by the end of the year. Installation can begin as early as the second week of January.