In a bid to take student safety to the next level, the Lathrop City Council is considering a pilot program to place automatic license plate readers and safety surveillance cameras near two elementary schools.

The safety technology would be placed in fixed locations on the west side of the STEAM Academy in the River Islands development and the east side of Lathrop Elementary School.

The pilot program is intended to:

*Enhance school-zone safety.

*Provide law enforcement with improved situational awareness and investigative tools.

*Allow staff to evaluate operational and fiscal impacts prior to consideration of a possible citywide rollout.

The proposed pilot program is the result of Vice Mayor Jennifer Torres-O'Callaghan’s request she made at a previous council meeting that the city look into the possibility of installing such technology near schools.

Torres-O'Callaghan indicated her objective was to improve student and pedestrian safety.

The $85,000 cost of the pilot program will be covered with Measure C sales tax receipts.

Other cities have placed fixed camera systems and license plate readers in school zones and other high -priority safety areas to support public safety objectives.

The systems are commonly utilized to:

*Deter unsafe driving behavior through visible monitoring infrastructure.

*Enhance real-time situational awareness for law enforcement personnel.

*Preserve time-stamped video evidence to assist in investigations.

*Identify vehicles associated with authorized public safety hotlists, including stolen vehicles, AMBER Alerts, missing persons alerts, and vehicles connected to active criminal investigations.

The City Council meets Monday, March 9, at 7 p.m.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com