Live Video Street Cameras Pitched to Yakima Council Tonight

Tonight, the Yakima City Council will hear a presentation from the Yakima Police Department that aims to alleviate public fears of automatic license plate readers versus live video traffic feeds.

Yakima County is requesting to install live video cameras in the city of Yakima. YPD Chief Shawn Boyle will show the pros of having access to both of these tools.

Why Live Video Cams Are Being Requested by Yakima County

Live video camera feeds would be a crime and traffic infraction-solving tool that not only allows officers and detectives see what's happening on location before patrol officers arrive on the scene, they also can see what happened at during a particular roadway incident in the past.

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How Yakima Police Currently Audit Vehicle Searches

Officers are already required to fill out an online request if they are investigating a traffic incident, and this supports their public transparency of audit tracking police requests.
Included on the form is:

Offense Type
Case Number
Reason for the Search
License Plate Number and State (including partial plate numbers)
A description of the vehicle (body, make, color, etc.)
Location and Time of Traffic Incident

This search can be made from the last 15 minutes up to the previous 30 days of the traffic incident.

#QTNA: Questions That Need Answering

Does this mean installing live cam feeds in Yakima will cause traffic violation tickets being mailed to drivers who run red lights? (We'll have to let the police department answer that one.)
Another question: Would having live videos instead of automatic license plate reader technology (ALPR) replace human officers? (No.)
Can the YPD share the data between other police departments to assist in solving traffic crimes and incidents? (Yes.)

Included in tonight's City Council agenda packet are some of the presentation slides. I took a look at them and what caught my eye was the reassurance that there would be no facial recognition in live videos.

If you aren't able to make it down to City Hall to watch the presentation in person, you can view it on the live feed on Y-PAC, or on Charter cable channel 194.