Tybee to purchase license plate scanners | savannahnow.com

The Tybee City Council’s vote Thursday night to purchase two license plate reading cameras means in the near future every vehicle that drives on and off the island city will be scanned.

Council voted 5-1 late Thursday to approve the purchase suggested by Police Chief Bob Bryson of the scanners to be installed in both directions of U.S. 80 on the Lazaretto Creek Bridge. Barry Brown opposed the vote to purchase the system that will run license plate tags against criminal information databases like the National Crime Information Center and the Georgia Crime Information Center.

But council’s approval of the $28,750 purchase stipulated city staff must flush out a policy about what data is collected, how that information can be used and how long it is kept on file before the scanners’ law enforcement applications are approved.

“We need to have a written policy for all of us to review,” said Bill Garbett, who made a motion to approve the purchase and use it as a traffic counting device.

Bryson, who early Friday afternoon had not been briefed on the council’s decision, declined to comment on the scanners until he better understood the city’s action.

The police chief did say he understood the scanners could be “a touchy subject,” but promised the law enforcement capabilities would be good for the island city.

City Manager Diane Schleicher, who said the city’s intentions were “not to have Big Brother watching over everyone,” anticipates the police use policy would be ready by council’s Dec. 12 meeting.

That policy, City Councilman Jan Fox suggested, should mandate all information gathered by the scanners that’s not to be used in a criminal investigation be destroyed within 72 hours.

“This is an important thing to do,” Fox said. “If we get the word out there that we’re doing it because of Orange Crush and other situations where you have a lot of people coming on the island it could help keep (criminals) out.”

License plate readers have been used extensively in law enforcement across the country and have been used locally by the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office.

The scanners, Schleicher said, will be able to notify dispatchers and police officers when a vehicle reported stolen, lacking valid insurance, or whose owner has an active arrest warrant enters the city.

“Tybee’s unique in that we only have one way on and off,” the city manager said. “So, this will be another tool for police to use, and maybe it becomes a deterrent — say word gets out that if you cross Lazaretto Bridge and you have an outstanding felony warrant there’s a real good chance you’re going to get caught.”

For now, however, the only approved use of the cameras is to gather data to be used in Armstrong Atlantic State University economics professor Michael Toma’s ongoing visitor spending study.