WAUSAU, WI (WAOW TV-WSAU) — The Wausau Police Department will use funding from a Department of Administration grant to install 20 Automatic License Plate Recognition cameras around the city.
They would be using the same type of technology that are currently on the department’s parking enforcement vehicles. The cameras would take a snapshot of the car and its back license plate, in the event the department needs to use that information in an investigation.
All cars that get scanned would be placed in a database for 30 days and then erased. Police chief Ben Bliven says people will not need to worry about their privacy being invaded.
“This system specifically that we’re going to be bringing to Wausau was created with privacy in mind, and that is they take pictures of the rear of the vehicle and not the front of the vehicle because there’s no facial recognition technology,” he said.
The department will use $57,000 of a more than $130,000 grant toward those cameras, and each camera has a cost of $2,500 that will need to be funded for future years.
