These birds don't have feathers. They are product names for technology sold by Flock Safety.
Flock began installing 164 gunshot-detecting ravens in late June, linking them to the existing license plate reading cameras called falcons, which Flock set up in the city in 2021.
The raven devices are about halfway installed with full installation expected by mid July, Police Chief Brian Schoonmaker said.
Flock strategically placed the gunshot-detecting devices in the city's three square miles of residential neighborhoods.
And, while none of them activated since installation, Hazleton didn't have any reports of gunfire either, the chief said. When the sounds of fireworks boomed over the Fourth of July holiday, the ravens remained silent as they are designed to do, Schoonmaker said.
City police saw the raven system more than a year ago, researched it and, seeings its benefits, sought out funding, the chief sai"The intention was to get ahead of the violence because we saw trends of violence across the country," Schoonmaker said. Violence peaked locally as the city awaited the arrival of the gunshot detection system. City police were tasked with investigating a series of shootings this spring which wounded nine people between April 3 and June 1.
Shootings also happened outside city limits including one that wounded a man in McAdoo on May 16. Two other area shootings were fatal. Rolando X. Cepeda, 18, of Hazle Twp., was killed during an April 14 shooting on West 23rd Street, between routes 940 and 309 in Hazle Twp. State police at Hazleton arrested a juvenile in that incident, citing he drove the getaway vehicle captured on Hazleton's license plate reading cameras. On Jan. 14, someone shot and killed 19-year-old Luis M. Luna at Regal Cinema in Hazle Twp.
Schoonmaker said the violence reinforced the need for the gunshot detection system.
Birds of a feather
The raven units and falcon units operate together. When a gunshot sounds, any falcon camera in the area activates, snapping pictures of vehicles passing through the area. Simultaneously the license plate reading cameras and the gunshot detection system send officers information such as location and time via text and email "leaving bread crumb trails," for officers to follow, Schoonmaker said.
The 50 city-owned, motion-activated and solar-powered license plate reading cameras alone provide a useful tool, Det. Lt. William Gallagher said. Giving the example of a stolen vehicle, Gallagher said the owner may not know the time it was stolen but the license plate reading cameras stationed at every entrance and exit to the city will give officers a more finite timeframe. The city also owns a handful of falcon flux devices, which are mobile license plate reading devices.
The license plate reading system also picked up on wanted people, hit and run vehicles, theft suspects and missing persons, the chief said. Flock's equipment doesn't identify individual people, race or gender and doesn't use facial recognition technology, according to the company.
From June 7 through July 6, it read about 5.4 million license plates. That's more plates read in one month than an officer could read in their career, Schoonmaker said.
Both pieces of equipment allow police to do their jobs more efficiently and collect evidence.
The raven devices come at no cost for the first two years while the city secured an anti-gun violence grant for an additional two years to fund the technology. After that four year span, the cost is $25,000 per square mile annually.
Each license plate camera costs $2,500 per year and Hazleton has enough money to pay for them until the end of 2026 through the gun violence reduction provision in the American Rescue Plan Act.
Schoonmaker said the city seeks additional grants to cover future costs of the equipment.
Hazleton had been eyeing up similar camera systems for years but got aggressive in its pursuit for license plate reading cameras after 15-year-old Hector Padilla died days after a June 12, 2021, hit-and-run crash on South Poplar Street. Investigators spent more than a month trying to track down the white pickup truck involved. They had surveillance of the vehicle but none of the footage captured a license plate like the license plate reading cameras it has now. Having the license plate cameras back then would have sped up the investigation, the chief said.
Hazleton police were the first in the tri-state area to use them community-wide, Schoonmaker said. Since then, West Hazleton, Hazle Twp. and Weatherly purchased cameras while other communities are looking into them.
Individual business owners may purchase a license plate camera and can permit the city police to view data from it, Schoonmaker said. But, the deal doesn't allow the business owner to view the city's cameras.
© 2023 The Citizens' Voice (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
