Roeland Park will soon have three license plate readers operating at two of the city’s busiest intersections along Roe Boulevard.
The license plate readers are intended to serve as an investigative tool for law enforcement to identify license plates associated with reported crimes but not to catch speeders or drivers who run red lights, Police Chief John Morris said.
Where they will go
The readers are expected to be operational in about a month, Mayor Michael Poppa told the Shawnee Mission Post.
They will be mounted on poles at the following intersections:
- Facing southbound on Roe Boulevard and 48th Street, near the entrance to a shopping complex that contains a Price Chopper and Lowe’s
- Facing eastbound, also at 48th and Roe
- And facing northbound at Roe and 51st Street, an intersection with a QuikTrip and McDonald’s.
The Roeland Park City Council approved putting the readers at these locations at its Monday meeting by a 7-1 vote with Ward 4 Councilmember Michael Rebne voting against the measure.
Council also considered Roe and Johnson Drive
At its Feb. 20 meeting, the council approved by a 4 to 1 vote the purchase of three license plate-reading cameras from Merriam-based Electronic Technology Inc. for $44,335 for a five-year contract.
Rebne also voted against the purchase.
Poppa said at Monday’s meeting that the council chose to delay the installation until it learned whether it could share the utility poles at Roe and Johnson Drive with the city of Mission to potentially mount readers there.
Police Chief John Morris told the council that Mission police officials told him that Evergy, which owns the poles, would not allow cameras to be mounted on them.
Some councilmembers raised concerns about inequity
At the Feb. 20 meeting, Rebne and Ward 4 Councilmember Miel Castagna-Herrera expressed concerns about putting cameras where Roe turns into 18th Street Expressway heading into Kansas City, Kan.
“That’s the corridor where all people of color come in this community through,” Castagna-Herrera said at the time.
Morris responded by saying license plate readers don’t target drivers or individuals of a specific race or ethnicity but capture license plate numbers specifically associated with a known crime.
When a local law enforcement agency enters a specific license plate number into a database, an alert is sent to police.
License plate readers are increasingly common
According to council documents from Monday’s meeting, police departments in Shawnee, Merriam, Overland Park, Fairway, Prairie Village, Leawood, Kansas City, Mo., Kansas City, Kan., Blue Springs, Mo., and other local and regional law enforcement agencies use Electronic Technology’s license plate readers.
Last October, the Johnson County Board of County Commissioners approved a nearly $600,000 agreement with Electronic Technology for the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office to use up to 55 automated license plate readers at certain intersections.
Jerry LaMartina is a freelance journalist who contributes frequently to the Shawnee Mission Post and other Kansas City-area publications. He can be reached at lamartina.jerry@gmail.com.
