MCPD receives federal funding for more license plate readers

Thanks to Federal Community Project Funding, the Michigan City Police Department [MCPD] will be purchasing additional Automated License Plate Readers [ALPRs].

“The police department has been using ALPRs from Flock Safety that have allowed men and women for this department to better protect and service the citizens of Michigan City,” said MCPD Chief Marty Corley.

“The technology will also allow MCPD to better work with other law enforcement agencies throughout La Porte County into the Northeast Indiana, the state of Indiana and throughout the United States of America by sharing data that is collected by the present platform use,” he added.

The MCPD joined Mayor Angie Nelson Deuitch and U.S. Rep. Frank J. Mrvan, D-1st, on Friday to announce an award of about $180,000 in federal funding, which will go toward upgrading the department’s technology and equipment.

Corley, who said the ALPRs would be a force multiplier in their crime-fighting networks, explained how the technology would work.

“The ALPR technology of Flock Safety that the Michigan City Police Department will use provides not only a photograph of the license plate but vehicle fingerprint technology to identify and take a snapshot of critical details of a vehicle that passes by them,” Corley said.

The ALPR technology, said Corley, is connected to the cloud through LTE like a mobile phone and performs 24/7 in any weather.

“The ALPR has leveraged the FBI’s National Crime Information Center federal and state hotlist, which are updated every 24 hours, and integrated with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s Amber Alert database to help locate missing individuals and can be used in the event of a Silver Alert,” he said.

Corley thanked Mrvan for helping MCPD secure funding and thanked members of the department, including Assistant Chief Steve Forker, Kevin Urbanczyk and others to help implement the technology.

Nelson Deuitch said it was a pleasure to receive funding from the federal government. She said the Common Council and State Rep. Pat Boy, D-Michigan City, had started the project some time prior and now they were seeing the end result.

“The council originally put some money up front and we were able to start this process. And now with the money, the support from Congressman Frank Mrvan, we’re able to increase it and enhance it. So, that is the beauty of these collaborations,” Nelson Deuitch said.

“It doesn’t just take the mayor’s office, the administration. It takes the city council, the congressman. It takes federal funding, it takes state funding, for us to protect our community,” she added.

Mrvan commended Nelson Deuitch and the chiefs for their collaborative efforts in securing funds to help keep people safe.

“You want to live in a safe, thriving community. As we go forward, we want to make sure, as a member of Congress, we deliver resources. The chief used the term ‘force multiplier.’ Let’s just go one more step with what that means,” Mrvan said.

“That means where police men and women cannot be there physically, technology will be there to protect our neighborhoods. So that residents can walk on the streets, be able to walk to downtown and walk to the lakeshore. So that people can open up businesses knowing that their property is safe and that kids can go to school and feel safe. Those are the priorities that we have in Michigan City to make sure we’re investing in,” he added.

When asked how many units of the Flock detection system would be acquired, Corely said they would have 30 more. He said they already have another 30 being used and had found success with them, breaking a fraud ring and a local vehicle theft case.

“Just last night, we had a stolen vehicle that was identified and get them into custody,” he said.

“We’ve used it in several different instances, and it has come up great in our community. It’s a great help to us,” he added.

When asked how the Shots Fired detection system notices the difference between a gunshot and other sounds, such as a car’s backfire, Forker said the AI technology used constantly practices deliberating the differences between sounds and categorizes them accordingly.

He gave the example of the noises the South Shore Line made at one point, which would cause the indicators to go off. However, through working with Flock and AI, the detection systems eventually figured out the differences.

“The technology’s always learning from itself. It’s always advancing. The more that it hears, the more that it learns, the better results,” Forker said.

“Traditionally, we’re waiting for those phone calls to come in, through 911 or non-emergency line numbers and given a location and possible description. Now, we’re allowed to get those alerts on our phones, on our computers, on our desktops so we can initially start responding to those areas, which has probably reduced our response time by two to three minutes, at least,” he added.