Grosse Pointe Park approves gift of license plate readers

GROSSE POINTE PARK — It appears that license plate readers are coming to the community.

Due to a $57,300 gift from the nonprofit Grosse Pointe Public Safety Foundation, the five Grosse Pointes and Harper Woods are expected to get these devices in the coming months. The donation covers the cost of the equipment — which, to start, will include five cameras per city — along with annual fees and maintenance for the first year of service. As part of the donation agreement, the cities have to agree to pay for the second year of service. After that, it will be up to each city to decide whether to fund the ongoing annual costs. City Manager Nick Sizeland said the cost for software, annual fees, SIM cards and maintenance is expected to be $9,500 in calendar year 2026.

“License plate readers is something that’s been thoroughly discussed,” Sizeland said at a Dec. 9 Grosse Pointe Park City Council meeting. “They’re something that truly is of benefit to our residents.”

Park Detective Sgt. Jeremy Pittman said these devices played a key role in tracking down a suspect who had stolen a landscaping trailer from Nottingham Road in June. Although the Park didn’t have these cameras, neighboring communities — including Detroit — did, and police were able to spot the stolen trailer on those cameras.

“It’s a great investigative tool,” Pittman said. “It’s also a crime deterrent.”

The cameras can enable law enforcement to track a flagged vehicle as it travels past other license plate readers.

“This actually helps our ability to communicate with neighboring (law enforcement) departments,” City Councilman Max Wiener said.

Pittman said criminals know where these cameras are and avoid those areas. They also know where they aren’t — which, right now, is the Grosse Pointes and Harper Woods.

As to privacy concerns — an issue raised by City Councilwoman Christine Gallagher — Pittman said there’s no expectation of privacy when it comes to license plates.

“It’s just scanning your license plate,” Pittman said. “It doesn’t scan the driver.”

The license plate is then checked to see if the vehicle is stolen or being sought in conjunction with another crime. The system also looks for Amber alerts, which could help rescue a kidnapped child by allowing police to locate and stop the vehicle. In addition, law enforcement officials say the technology can be used to find a senior with dementia who might be lost, since they can input the license plate number into the system to get an alert if a vehicle with that plate passes one of these cameras.

“When we first started talking about this, I had concerns about privacy,” City Councilman Brent Dreaver said. “But I don’t like (us) being a soft target. … I thank the (Public) Safety Foundation for putting the money up for this.”

The Grosse Pointe Public Safety Foundation decided on Motorola instead of Flock, a similar system, because the ongoing costs were lower with Motorola.

“If we decide after year two we don’t want it, we just don’t pay for it (anymore),” City Councilman Marty McMillan said, referring to calendar year 2027 and beyond. “But I would think (that) $10,000  is the best investment we could make.”

Officials say these systems are secure — only authorized law enforcement personnel can access them — and the data is only stored temporarily.

The Park City Council voted unanimously in favor of the gift and the agreement for the city to pay for the second year of service in 2026.

The license plate readers gift was in the process of being approved by the six communities at press time.