Traffic cameras, bocce in Concord

You are currently viewing Traffic cameras, bocce in Concord
Council Co-Vice Chairman John Crossan tries his hand at bocce. Waiting her turn, to the left of Crossan is Councilmember Vinita Deshmukh. Behind them are Co-Vice President John Gillespie and Councilmember Colleen Morrone. Looking on are township Manager Amanda Serock, far left, and Director of Public Works Dan Moyer.

It’s not a done deal yet, but Concord Township Council is moving forward with an idea to install license-plate-reading cameras at three intersections. What is a done deal is that there are now two bocce ball courts on the township’s Thornton Road property next to the municipal building.

Council members unveiled the two courts prior to their May 3 meeting. Council Co-Vice President John Gillespie said the township has been working for a year to get the courts installed. And township Manager Amanda Serock said the work was done in-house by volunteers from the Parks and Recreation Committee and by the Public Works Department.

The idea for the license plate readers first came up publicly during the March meeting when Shawn Petty of Platelogiq presented his company’s use of the cameras. During that presentation, Lt. Jon Sunderlin, the barracks commander at Troop K Media, said that such a system could have helped solve a hit and run accident that happened on Route 202 several years ago.

Concord is working on a contract proposal for cameras at three intersections, one at Routes 1 and 202, another at Route 202 and Naamans Creek Road, and a third at Route 322 and Fellowship Drive.

The proposed contract is for five years at $22,000 per year, plus $9,125 per year for maintenance after that, according to Council President Dominic Pileggi.

Township Manager Amanda Serock said the figures discussed are a proposal, and that the contract, with full details, has yet to be written. She added that the contract does not automatically renew.

Privacy and potential abuse of the system have been topics within the conversation, in March, and in May. As was said in March and again during Tuesday night’s meeting, there are checks on how the system can be used.

Petty said in March that Platelogiq can’t be used to track or identify people, and only law enforcement can access the system. But one concern raised during Tuesday’s meeting was whether any cloud-based storage could be hacked and used for improper purposes.

State Trooper Jessica Tobin acknowledged that such a scenario can’t be fully prevented, at least at the current level of technology since many hackers are out in the world and they have hacked sensitive data, both governmental and private.

She added, however, that even law enforcement personnel can’t just access the system to go fishing or track former friends. And Council Co-Vice Chair John Crossan backed that up saying the police must show cause to access Platelogiq’s data.

The Platelogiq system is currently used in Upper Chichester, and Crossan said he and other councilmembers saw a demonstration of the system as Upper Chichester police use it. During the March meeting, he raised civil liberty issues but came away from the tour with Upper Chichester, saying he feels the system is secure enough.

“When it comes to public safety, a lot can be done, but, of course, we want to make sure there are checks and balances in place to ensure those systems are not abused against us. When I went to the demonstration in Upper Chi, I was confident with regard to the assurances of those checks and balances,” Crossan said.

He added that the system is audited, ensuring that access requests are tied to specific incidents.

About Rich Schwartzman

Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.

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