Most of Prairie Village’s busiest intersections will soon have both license plate readers and traffic cameras watching them, in a new initiative funded with federal dollars.
The Prairie Village Police Department worked with Kansas’s two U.S. senators, Republicans Roger Marshall and Jerry Moran, to apply to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services’s technology community project funding program.
Prairie Village Police Chief Byron Roberson said his department asked for — and got — $638,000 to fully build out the city’s license plate reader and traffic camera system.
Devices are planned for nearly 30 intersections
Below are the designated locations for license plate readers and traffic cameras, though adjustments could be made if needed, Capt. Ivan Washington told the Post:
- West 63rd Street at Nall and Roe avenues, and Mission Road
- West 67th Street and Roe Avenue
- West 71st Street at Nall Avenue, and Mission and State Line roads
- Roe Avenue and Tomahawk Road
- West 75th Street at Lamar, Nall, Roe and Belinder avenues, and State Line Road
- Cambridge Street and State Line Road
- West 79th Street at Lamar, Roe and Belinder avenues, and Mission Road
- Somerset Drive at Nall, Roe and Belinder avenues, and at Mission and State Line roads
- West 83rd Street at Lamar, Nall and Roe avenues, and Mission Road
- West 87th Street and Mission Road
- West 91st Street and Nall Avenue
- West 95th Street and Roe Avenue
Police say they won’t be used to catch speeders or red light runners
- Roberson told the Post via email that traffic cameras are “used to monitor traffic patterns, investigate leads (both real time and follow up investigations) and accident identification or verification.”
- If there are contradicting driver statements in an intersection accident, for example, then traffic cameras can be used to verify which driver might be at fault and potentially issue a citation based on the evidence, Roberson said.
- License plate readers, he said, are used to identify vehicles with existing warrants associated with certain license plates and could be used for things like identifying a stolen vehicle or vehicles with stolen tags.
Prairie Village Police hope to begin installation this summer
- Washington told the Post the entire installation is anticipated to take approximately eight to 10 months to complete.
- Several factors could impact the process though, Washington said, such as connectivity data issues, weather and any supply chain backlogs.
- “We are very excited about having the new technology available to allow us to maintain a safe community for all that live, work and play in [Prairie Village],” Washington said.
Related news: 3 license plate readers will be put on Roe in Roeland Park
