T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY Currently, there are 32 Flock license plate readers around Marshalltown, including this one along the western city limits at the intersection of Lincoln Way and Highland Acres Road. During Monday night’s meeting, Marshalltown Police Department Capt. Kiel Stevenson provided an update on the program to the city council.

Once new Chief Chris Jones had been sworn into his position and most of the crowd had dispersed during Monday night’s city council meeting, Marshalltown Police Department (MPD) Capt. Kiel Stevenson shared a regularly scheduled update on the Flock license plate reader cameras placed around the community and noted their utility in solving several major cases.

Currently, there are 32 cameras in Marshalltown covering the thoroughfares in and out of town as well as areas that people frequently travel within the city. When the program started last March, Stevenson said, there were issues with obtaining state permits for the cameras on Highway 14, so it wasn’t fully implemented until August of 2024.

“It seems like, anymore, that Flock cameras are being used on almost every case — almost every large case, major case, Flock cameras have come into play,” Stevenson said. “I encourage each of you, if you run into officers on the street, ask them. Don’t just take my word for it. Talk to the people that are using it day in and day out, and they’ll tell you the successes we’ve had and how much we rely on this day in and day out for anything from minor theft calls to major incidents in our community.”

So far, there have been 36 times when an officer said the cameras generated leads for them, and they have led to 86 cases being cleared by arrest with a total of 92 arrests made along with the issuance of seven additional warrants. Without specifically identifying cases, Stevenson said they have been used in connection with two homicide investigations, another out of the MPD’s jurisdiction assisting another agency, a theft of over $50,000 worth of equipment, a multi-county burglary investigation and a recent card skimming incident that has resulted in multiple arrests.

Stevenson said Officer Andrew Weispfenning is the MPD’s “super user” of the technology and assisted another agency in identifying suspects who had cashed bad checks.

“This has been instrumental for us, and I venture to say that it’s probably been one of the best things that we’ve done technology wise since I started at the police department,” Stevenson said.

Going forward, the captain hoped the program could be expanded upon and noted that each camera comes at a flat rate of $3,000 per year. In addition to the license plate readers, there are other options like handheld zoom cameras that could be explored.

The current two-year contract with Flock ends in May of 2026, but Stevenson said there could be some flexibility before he returns to ask for more city funding in the future. As he opened the floor up for questions, Councilor Gary Thompson asked how many more cameras would provide complete coverage of the community to fill the “holes.”

He responded that eight to 10 more would help the MPD cover up some gaps, and they are relatively easy to maintain, requiring just a pole in the ground and running on solar energy and cell phone service. The handheld zoom cameras, Stevenson added, could potentially cover parks, businesses and parking lots.

Councilor Melisa Fonseca asked if the city would own or lease the equipment, and Stevenson said it would simply be leased for the aforementioned flat fee. During the public comment period, Jim Shaw expressed concern about the potential use of the handheld cameras going beyond what was originally explained and voted upon by the council.

“I’m glad that we caught all the bad people, the skimmers and all of those people, but I want to maintain that we still are looking at license plates. Are we?” he asked.

Stevenson replied that the license plate readers are the only cameras the MPD is currently using, but there are other options if they wish to explore them in the future.

“I’ll also point out that we already have cameras in intersections (and) cameras in parking lots in our community, which we’ve had for years,” he said. “I’ll also point out that there are cameras on almost every business that we get access to. Many homes have cameras, so we’re often going to other sources to find camera footage of incidents. I’m simply saying that we do have the opportunity to increase this with council approval.”

Outgoing Police Chief Mike Tupper commended Stevenson for “working his tail off” on the project and managing it, calling the program a force multiplier that has already paid dividends in terms of public safety.

“I said it (at) the last council meeting, and I’m gonna say it one more time before I’m out of here. We have a budgeted strength of 42 police officers. We have work for 50. I’ve been saying that for 13 years. These cameras help us with a force multiplier to get some extra help (and) some extra eyes in the community,” Tupper said. “We’re not trying to set up a surveillance state. Right now, all we have is license plate readers. That’s what you approved almost two years ago now, but I would challenge the council to just consider, as you’re rebuilding Main Street, developing other areas of the community (and) developing parks, protect that important infrastructure. And cameras go a long way to doing that. So I think it’s an opportunity for the city.”

Technology is “everything” in law enforcement, he added, recalling his early days in law enforcement with just two computers in the entire building where he worked. Fonseca then asked who has access to the license plate reader footage, and Tupper said it has sometimes been shared with other law enforcement agencies such as the sheriff’s office.

“It’s a very small world that we live in today, and so the criminals that we’re chasing in Marshalltown are committing crimes in other communities. And maybe you saw that Newton just arrested one of the credit card skimmers that we arrested for credit card skimming there,” he said. “So we share technology and resources and footage with other law enforcement agencies, and they share theirs with our department as well. We’re not passing them out as public records requests. If you called me and said ‘I want footage,’ you’re not gonna get it.”

Lonnie Hogeland commended the cameras as a good thing and said people worried about their uses shouldn’t be breaking the law, and Mayor Joel Greer echoed Tupper’s praise of Stevenson’s work in implementing the program.

Back in October of 2023, the council voted unanimously to spend up to $210,000 to fund the Flock program for two years utilizing Automated Traffic Enforcement (ATE) revenues.

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Contact Robert Maharry

at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.