BY Caleb McCluskey
Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Tupelo
TUPELO, Miss. — The next step in the years-long process of building and bolstering the city of Tupelo’s real time intelligence center continues with help from a federal grant to purchase more surveillance equipment.
The Tupelo City Council voted unanimously last week to approve an agreement between the Department of Justice Office of Community Policing Services and the city for a $191,000 grant for license plate readers and a mobile surveillance trailer during a Tuesday night meeting.
“You won’t really notice the license plate readers, but it will double our effects of … catching people that are wanted in our jurisdiction and others with this new asset,” Tupelo Police Chief John Quaka said.
The chief said the trailer will be useful during large events like festivals.
The department has been testing a mobile surveillance trailer for the past few weeks, Quaka noted, adding it has been stationed behind retail stores like Brooks Grocery and Best Buy. This trailer will function as a mobile surveillance center for the department’s Real Time Intelligence Center, which the city began working on over two years ago.
The grant doesn’t require matching funds from the city. Quaka said the city hopes to buy about 20 plate readers and a single mobile trailer, which has a camera on a pole that can be brought to different areas. He expects to begin the purchasing process early next year and a few months after that.
The city currently has 14 license plate readers around town.
The years-long process started with the city contracting Atlanta -based security software firm Fusus Company for access to its surveillance and intelligence management platform and international police equipment company Axon Enterprise for body and vehicle cameras, which form the basis for the monitoring systems.
The council also voted to accept the donation of a safe city camera from Transport Trailer Service Inc and railroad crossties from Akers Railroad Holdings LLC during a Tuesday night meeting.
“We get a $6,000 camera that we normally wouldn’t have if we accept this donation,” Quaka said.
The camera will be installed at the intersection of South Green Street and Crossover Road , which Quaka said was near the business that donated the equipment.
As of Friday, Quaka said the city has eight cameras around town.
Meanwhile, the railroad crossties will go to the make improvements to the department’s firing range, which uses the crossties for erosion control and to protect equipment. Quaka noted the department originally planned to buy the equipment, but the company offered to donate them instead.
“Our railroad ties are all rotted,” Quaka said.
Looking to navigate the complexities of grants funding? Lexipol is your go-to resource for state-specific, fully-developed grants services that can help fund your needs. Find out more about our grants services here.
___
(c)2024 the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal (Tupelo, Miss.)
Visit the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal (Tupelo, Miss.) at www.djournal.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
