Wichita police say new cameras led to 163 arrests, helped recover $1.5M in property

Since installing dozens of cameras around Wichita in November, a pilot program meant to assist the Police Department in solving crimes has helped recover more than $1.5 million in property and solve a homicide, according to police Lt. Casey Slaughter.

He said the program, which takes pictures of license plates and records characteristics of vehicles, also has helped capture a “serial burglar.”

Slaughter gave an overview of the initiative this week to the Wichita City Council, which then approved moving past the pilot program and keeping the cameras going at a cost of $275,000 a year.

There were roughly 60 cameras under the initial program, but that number will now increase to 110 — 25 in each bureau (north, south, east and west) and 10 for investigations.

Here’s what the program, which was a partnership with Flock Safety, had yielded or recovered from its inception through this week:

• $1.51 million in property
• 157 stolen vehicles
• 24 firearms
• 15 ounces of methamphetamine, 4.5 pounds of marijuana, 3 grams of cocaine and 22 “narcotics/pills”
• 5 runaways and one missing person

It also has helped lower the average days it took to recover stolen vehicles from nearly 15 days in 2019 to just over 10 days in 2020, he said.

Additionally, the initiative has led to 163 arrests, including 110 felony arrests. Those arrests include the homicide, aggravated battery with a firearm, auto theft and theft, counterfeiting, domestic violence and carjacking, including one on the first day of the pilot, Slaughter said. The program also led to the arrest of wanted people.

City Council member Brandon Johnson said he heard from people concerned that “big brother” would abuse the system.

Slaughter said the department’s robust policy on the program, making sure officers have been trained to access the system and ensuring it is used for “legitimate law enforcement purposes” all keep the initiative from overstepping its purpose.

The program requires officers to enter a reason, such as a police case number, or they can’t access the system, he said.

He said audits have found no wrongdoing.

Wichita police have been using license plate readers since 2014. But the Flock Safety system is more robust, allowing officers to search vehicles by characteristics and not just license plates, he said.

This story was originally published April 7, 2021 at 1:55 PM.