Harrisburg turning to license plate readers

The village of Harrisburg in northern Boone County is installing the same license plate readers from the company Flock Safety being considered by Columbia police. Village trustees agreed to spend about $10,000 per year to install and operate four of the cameras. The Boone County Sheriff’s Department will have access to the data, which is shared with other Flock Safety customers nationwide. The cameras identify a vehicle of interest by its license plate and immediately notify police. The Boone County sheriff’s department has used license plate readers since 2010. The sheriff’s plate readers come from a cyber and security company named Leonardo, which is based in Italy.