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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — MAY 27, 2025 3 Councilmember Rousseau said those questions are generally answered in data privacy impact assessments. With the machine learning it's important to make sure somebody is making a specific check. When law enforcement is involved, you are making a significant decision. Hopefully it is the person you are looking for vs. someone else that the machine has said, depending on where the technology is. Undersheriff Ramacher said the machine is only gathering a plate number and a picture. Councilmember Rousseau asked how they work with that at night or if the weather is bad. Undersheriff Ramacher said the cameras rely on the reflectivity of the plate. They are infrared cameras so they can read plates at night. He thinks the question is whether or not the camera and software makes mistakes reading an O vs. a zero. Councilmember Rousseau asked where the human component of that is. Commander Hankee said when a deputy gets a hit from Flock, they enter the license plate into their system. Undersheriff Ramacher said the way they use the system is reactive. The deputy is responsible for verifying the information after receiving a hit. If the camera made a mistake and there was an O in the plate, not a zero. When they enter that plate into their database to verify an alert, if the information is wrong, they stop. If it matches, they will go to the area, find the car, stop the vehicle and make an arrest. Mayor Grant asked for confirmation that there are 75 cameras in the squad cars. Undersheriff Ramacher confirmed there are 75. Not every car has an in -car camera system. Every car that patrols the contract cities have the system. Mayor Grant thinks if you put up a Flock camera, the sheriffs department can "be there" because it records a plate number and it can tell you where they're heading. He thinks adding three LPRs is way cheaper than hiring three more officers. Undersheriff Ramacher said all of the contract cities have experienced some population growth in the last 5-10 years. He wants to use technology to police smarter, with the same amount of bodies. Mayor Grant said he agrees there is a magnitude of benefits with the Flock cameras. It equates to an officer sitting on the side of the road. It is more efficient and cost effective, while making our City safer. He wants to make sure the cameras are in the right places. Undersheriff Ramacher said the contract cities and surrounding cities are contiguous. They try to operate as one big city. The budget is parsed out based on formulas. He wanted the implementation of this to be fair to each city. The number of cameras each contract city receives is based on the portion of the budget they pay for. A camera that sits on one side of the street in Arden Hills is mutually beneficial to the Shoreview, North Oaks and all the other cities. His goal was to place the cameras in high traffic areas. He also has to place them where they aren't discriminatory.