The Nevada County Sheriff’s Department is hoping that a 25-camera system will help them solve crimes more quickly. So the Board of Supervisors has approved a 78-thousand dollar one-year pilot program. Sheriff’s Captain Sam Brown told the Board, earlier this week, that it’s always been a challenge to cover the county’s vast square mileage. He said this technology, also already being used by Grass Valley and Truckee Police, will help multiply their force. He said it’ll capture vehicle license numbers and descriptions…

click to listen to Capt Brown

Brown said the camera system could also help solve missing person cases. He emphasized it’ll gather objective evidence and facts about vehicles and not people. There will be no facial recognition photos. But Supervisor Heidi Hall, the only Board member voting “no”, said the system still has the potential for abuse. She was especially concerned about the possibility of sharing information about people from other states, where abortion rights have been curtailed or outlawed…

click to listen to Heidi Hall

Brown said data from the camera system will not be stored beyond 30 days. It will also not be used for traffic enforcement.