ARCANUM—The Arcanum Safety Committee met on Tuesday afternoon to discuss their ongoing stoplight project and Flock Safety.
First, Marcus Ballinger, Acting Village Administrator and Arcanum Police Chief, discussed the Flock Safety cameras that they will soon install to all five entrances of Arcanum.
Flock Safety cameras are license plate reading cameras that provide 24/7 monitoring. While they will be monitoring license plates as they enter and leave Arcanum.
He assured the cameras are no threat to the public’s privacy.
“We haven’t heard anything negative about the cameras,” he said. “It does not collect personal data, it’s not accessible to the public. It’s a secure network that has the same heightened technology as the military.”
The department plans to use the cameras to generate leads when investigating crimes committed within the village.
Ballinger met with the company on Tuesday morning and discussed logistics.
“We went through our GPS mapping of where the cameras will be located,” he said. “They will use Verizon in our area to do the uploads of the data that will be collected.”
Ballinger said he is awaiting final approval from Flock for the project. He said he hopes they can install sometime in March.
Next, the committee discussed their ongoing stoplight project near Arcanum Schools at the intersection of Trojan Ave and Sierra Ln.
The project includes a full traffic signal, with two lanes out of the school, the light works on a radar, will stay green during normal hours and turn lane signals.
They hope to use it for sporting events, and large events in town, in addition to school hours.
For safety, they will install LED flashers to alert of pedestrians, and will have two crossing guards on duty as well.
The project is paid for with funds from school and the village’s highway fund. Ballinger said they plan to have the project done by the start of the 2023-24 school year.
The Arcanum Village Council holds meetings every second and last Thursday of the month at 7 p.m. in the Arcanum Municipal building, at 309 S. Albright St., Arcanum, Ohio 45304. For any questions, contact the Village offices at 937-692-8500.
