05-27-25 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — MAY 27, 2025 9 Undersheriff Ramacher said it's often used for missing persons, as well. If someone with Alzheimer's or someone in a mental health crisis is missing, their plate can be entered, and officers will be able to stop the vehicle and mitigate the situation. Councilmember Holden agrees that the program should be a county -wide thing, but we aren't set up to do that yet. Mayor Grant said we don't own the cameras. We also don't own the squad cars. He said it is true that they could just put the Flock cameras into the budget and the contract cities would pay for it as part of their policing service. He understands RCSO is here because they want this to be public facing, want to present the technology and have the cities feel comfortable. RCSO will pay for the installation of the cameras. The cities are being asked to pay for the lease of those cameras. The City budget for RCSO is $1.75 million per year. The cost of these Flock cameras is a fractional percentage of the total contract. These cameras will increase the cost effectiveness and the efficiency of our law enforcement. He recently was at a meeting where Mounds View gave a recount of the incident Undersheriff Ramacher just shared. They were amazed at how well it worked. They knew where the car was going, they apprehended the suspect, and it was over with no chase. This technology increases safety for the officers, too. Arden Hills is historically a low crime rate city. He attributes that to the fact that there aren't a lot of through streets. You have to intentionally go into the little neighborhoods. If someone is passing through, it's Snelling, 694, and 35W. He said our crime rate is low and he would like to keep it that way. He wants the most effective police department we can get. He thinks this is one way to do that. North Oaks also had positive things to say about their Flock system. Our neighboring cities are telling us this works. Councilmember Rousseau said her understanding is that 28% of the total General Fund Budget goes to RCSO. This program will cost, on average, $20,000 per year once this is built out. Over the last four years there has been a $100,000 increase per year for RCSO services. She said the cost of data is expensive. That's probably why they only save it for 30 days. We only have 3,000 homes in this community. She asked if there will be signage identifying the cameras are a RCSO's cameras? Undersheriff Ramacher said there won't be a sign on the camera. Per the state statute, the location of the cameras are required to be posted. They are posted on the BCA website. Councilmember Rousseau asked if we could choose to put a sign on them, particularly if we are looking to deter people from coming into the community. Undersheriff Ramacher said we could. But that would be a discussion with the Sheriff. There are pros and cons to that decision. North Oaks chose to install signs but their use of cameras is a little different than what these are being used for. They are trying to mitigate people coming on to private roads. There is deterrent piece. Councilmember Rousseau asked if there was a commercial aspect to it because you are required to have a notice, in commercial aspects, if you are surveilling. Undersheriff Ramacher does not know that answer.