East Aldine will become one of the rare neighborhoods in the Harris County Sheriff’s Office patrol region to deploy automated camera systems that alert investigators when vehicles linked to criminal suspects are detected in the area.
The East Aldine Management District board voted Thursday night (Jan. 18) to fund 60 Flock Safety cameras in the district’s service area. Total cost: $939,000 for five years.
Sheriff’s Office deputies are the primary police force for the 2 million people who live in the unincorporated parts of Harris County. Flock Safety cameras are already in use in the Cloverleaf and Cypress Station parts of the patrol area.
The camera systems capture license plate numbers and other vehicle identifiers and can alert area law enforcement agencies across the region, including the Houston Police Department, when the information is linked to a crime investigation.
Flock Safety cameras in the City of Houston have led to the arrest and conviction of high-profile, violent felons and other criminals. Example
Funding of the cameras is the latest leap in the management district’s public safety initiatives, which include the installation of hundreds of streetlights, a force of 17 sheriff’s patrol deputies assigned to concentrate on East Aldine, and the operation of a Sheriff’s Office storefront open to the public at the East Aldine Town Center office building.
“The East Aldine Management District is pleased to be able to fund the Flock Safety camera system as the latest big step toward making our neighborhood safer for its hard-working, previously underserved population, as well as for people who come here to work, study, shop, dine or play,” Board Chairman Carlos Silva said. “More safety also attracts more economic development, which is the essential task of any management district.”
