By Steve Plunkett
Two surveillance cameras powered by artificial intelligence are being installed in Place Au Soleil to guard against thieves who walk into the community after dark.
Gulf Stream Police Chief Richard Jones said it was primarily vehicle burglaries and one vehicle theft that had occurred there in the last year.
However, he told town commissioners at their Dec. 13 meeting that the criminal behavior there is different. Place Au Soleil is “not as isolated as the island side of Gulf Stream,” he said. “And because of that, they are more prone to pedestrian-related activity from nonresidents coming into the community during nighttime hours and then obviously committing these types of criminal behaviors and then going undetected because it’s very difficult for us to be at the right place at the right time and happen to see this pedestrian activity.”
Jones proposed using Condor cameras from Flock Safety, the same company that provides the town its license plate reader system.
“We would kind of use the solution the same way we would license plate cameras and define what time frame during the nighttime hours we utilize the solution. And anytime a pedestrian either walking or cycling enters the community it would alert law enforcement to their presence and then a law enforcement officer would use the information that we see on the video — whether it’s someone wearing a hoodie, whether it’s someone trying to conceal themselves against the vegetation line when they enter or whether it’s someone pushing a baby stroller who may live there — and we would then make a decision as to whether we needed to respond and check that or whether we thought that it was more than likely a resident and everything was fine.”
Flock will charge the town $6,250 for the first year’s use of the two cameras and the same amount each following year. Jones said the company initially wanted to collect $2,000 to install the cameras but dropped it to zero after several days of negotiations.
“I think it’s a great idea because you have all kinds of commercial activity right there,” Commissioner Joan Orthwein said.
Jones said he met with the homeowner association for input “on whether or not they felt the cameras would be intrusive or if residents would be concerned about having additional cameras.”
“And we got completely the opposite — that it was very invited and that they would appreciate it,” he said.
Comments