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PORTAGE -- Borough officials are moving forward a Local Share Account grant they secured last year to purchase two police body cameras, software packages and one license plate reader.
Borough Manager Makayla Zonfrilli-Lang said the grant was applied for and awarded last year. However, borough officials are still waiting on the check to purchase these items, and because there have been some concerns from residents, borough council voted to approve the grant contract Monday to clarify what the $39,452 is being used for, she said.
"Just because we have a grant doesn't mean we need to go through with it," Zonfilli-Lang said. "I wanted to be sure (that) council understood the grant and the public understood the grant."
The license plate reader will not be used for simple traffic stops but rather larger issues, such as assisting with Amber Alerts, finding stolen vehicles or identifying people linked to drug trafficking cases, Zonfrilli-Lang said.
The hardware will be mounted to a police cruiser and not posted on traffic signals like a Flock Safety camera, Zonfrilli-Lang said.
According to Zonfrilli-Lang, several residents have voiced concerns about having Flock cameras in the borough, with some misidentifying devices used to operate traffic lights as Flock cameras.
Public Works Director Fran Steberger said many people have been complaining about how long they've sat at the light on Dulancey Drive, waiting to turn onto Main Street.
Kuharchik Construction, who's contracted to service the borough's lights, found that both of the traffic loops -- wire coils buried in the road to detect vehicles -- on Main Street were broken, Steberger said, noting the company offered the borough a replacement to get rid of the loops and put car detectors on the masts that hold traffic lights up.
They're cream-colored devices, about 10 inches in diameter, posted halfway up the mast, Steberger said.
"If some people have mistaken those for these Flock cameras, you're sadly mistaken," Steberger said. "The only data those detectors are programmed to detect is the presence of a car."
Portage Borough Police Chief Dave Rosamilia said there will be a policy in place to regulate use of the borough's license plate reader once the borough is able to purchase and install the equipment.
The borough will use templates from policies in other municipalities -- namely Richland Township and the city of Johnstown -- that have already managed to weather the storm through other solicitors rather than create its own policy from scratch, he said.
Rosamilia reiterated Zonfrilli-Lang's comments that the hardware is not going to be used to identify people whose registration plate is out by a day or two.
Hypothetically, if a child is abducted in Pittsburgh and the driver gets pinged by a license plate reader, the system will notify police departments in the area of the vehicle's direction, allowing officers to coordinate and find the driver more easily, Rosamilia said.
The system could also be used to find other missing persons, such as a senior citizen with dementia who gets lost on the road, officials said.
By the time borough officials get the check, purchase and install the equipment, the license plate reader could be used by the police department as early as this fall, Zonfrilli-Lang said.
Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.