ELMIRA, NY (WENY) -- In 2022, the city of Elmira brought Flock Safety cameras, in an effort to help law enforcement combat crime. Fifty cameras were installed throughout the city, which capture a cars' license plate in real time.

"The Flock camera were first installed in the end of last year. We started using them the beginning of this year and there was 50 of them installed throughout the city. The purpose being LPR tracking or license plate reader tracker, so we would use them for law enforcement investigations," said Elmira Police Chief, Kristen Thorne.

But the cameras have also created community concern, over the data captured and stored, as well as the cost. At a city council meeting on December 18th, members voted 4 to 1 to extend the city's contract with Flock Safety/Security for an additional five years, at a cost of $500,000. 

"Flock approached us about, you know, expanding the agreement and saving some money on the cameras which that's what we did last night [Monday] is give the approval to further use the cameras for the next few years," said Mayor Dan Mandell.

The contract extension is for an annual rate of $2,500 per camera through the year 2028. The city will discontinue using 10 of the cameras, leaving 40 remaining up across the city, at a cost of $2,500 per camera per year.

The original agreement the city executed was for two years, with the expense covered by the city  using American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding. In February of 2023, city manager Michael Collins told WENY News the city would re-evaluate their use in the future.

"So, we will recess it in the future. We will see first and foremost we need all 50 cameras. We will see if we can absorb it in the budget as a general operating expense in the police budget,” Collins told WENY News on February 15th, 2023.

Some city residents are questioning why the decision to renew was made so soon, and where the data is to back up that decision. 

"I was the first person to speak and I obviously opposed the renewal of the contract, simply because the we have no evidence that these systems, have worked yet in the for within the year that they've they've been installed," said Elmira resident, Sam Somostrada. 

On the Flock Safety website, they host a Transparency Portal for the Elmira Police Department, sharing information on what the cameras capture, what's not, and how long it's stored. According to the website, data captured by the cameras is stored for 30 days. In the past 30 days, 169,764 vehicles have been detected, including 32,606 that have been "hotlisted" - meaning those plates are in a state or federal hotlist, such as the National Crime Information Center, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, or for having suspended tags. What information is not made available is if EPD was able to use any of that information to solve or prevent crimes from happening.

"I'm hearing throughout the law enforcement community that they are effective and that they are very helpful. Very few people that I've talked to that are against these. I mean, let's face it, people want public safety, and this is an added measure to keep people in Elmira safe and prevent criminals from coming into Elmira to commit crimes," said Mayor Mandell.

"We have heard all these claims from multiple city officials, as a sitting council member I have not received any data that supports their effectiveness," said District 1 councilman Nick Grasso, who voted against the contract extension Monday evening. Grasso also questioned the source of the funding for the next five-year term.

"To be honest I don't know how they plan to fund this for another five years," Grasso said.