The Mission Hills City Council unanimously approved installing three new traffic cameras and license plate readers at three intersections along State Line Road.
At its Monday, Nov. 18, the council approved the police department’s request to install cameras and plate readers at the intersections of State Line and 65th and 68th Streets, as well as at 70th Terrace.
The estimated total cost for the three cameras is about $81,300, Mission Hills City Administrator Jennifer Lee said in an email after the meeting.
The cameras and license plate readers are separate pieces of hardware that are installed together, Lee said.
Mission Hills already has 20 license plate readers
The city has 20 active intersection cameras with license plate readers and one camera without a reader, at the intersection of Mission Drive, Ensley Lane and Overhill Road, Lee said.
The 21 cameras and 20 readers were installed in three phases for a total cost of $434,573, according to council documents (pg. 8).
The cameras capture views in all four directions, Officer Adam Taylor with Prairie Village and Mission Hills said at Monday’s meeting.
The police department is considering adding as many as 14 more cameras and license plate readers in 2026.
Readers are not used to catch drivers who run red lights
In an August 2022 city council meeting, the city reported it had installed license plate readers at five intersections.
The cameras take “photographs of those traveling on the roadway at those designated areas,” Capt. Ivan Washington, the Prairie Village Police Department’s staff services division commander, told the Post at the time. (Prairie Village Police serve Mission Hills.)
“We only pull the data when needed,” Washington said. “If an accident occurs … we can view it to see who ran the red light or who turned right against a red light, but the goal of the traffic cameras and the LPRs [license plate readers] is strictly criminal investigation. There’s no … you run a red light and we send you a ticket.”
He told the Post in November 2021 that license plate readers may also have a deterrent effect.
“Ideally, the word gets out that Mission Hills has invested in infrastructure and cameras and LPRs, and it is probably not safe or easy to come here and do illegal activities,” he said at the time.
