LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas — The Little Rock Board of Directors received some pushback on Tuesday night after the real-time crime center appeared on the agenda.
The center first opened in 2022 with the promise that this new technology would help deter crime in the capital city. Now, as a contract extension is in front of the board, some have been saying that the money should go towards other things.
"I see no reason why these cameras need to be put into effect or this whole situation," said Norma Huffman, a resident in Little Rock.
At the Little Rock agenda meeting, people expressed concerns about a resolution put in front of the board.
It was a contract for $864,000 to fund the real-time crime center operations, but some said it should be removed from the agenda for one reason— the surveillance capability of the cameras.
"We need to have guardrails in place, in policy, that are going to make sure that we don't use facial recognition software," said Blake Tierney, another resident of Little Rock.
Tierney recently ran against Director Joan Adcock for her seat on the board. Meanwhile. another speaker in attendance was former Judge Wendell Griffen.
All the speakers wanted the board to postpone the vote for the real-time crime center contract until the safety of surveillance could be determined.
"You will not be able to show statistically that the City of Little Rock is a a lot safer," said Griffen.
After two hours and several people speaking in opposition at the podium, the city directors made a motion to pass the consent agenda as is with the real-time crime center contract included.
It passed unanimously.
When a business or person signs up to have their cameras be a part of the real-time crime center police say they are not surveilling the cameras. LRPD only sends out a notification alerting people in the area to check their cameras.
People have the option of whether or not they want to hand over any footage to the police.