By: Diane Benjamin

The entire Bloomington City Council meeting lasted only 56 minutes, almost half of it was public comment. There was a long line of people speaking against the license plate reading cameras that were on the Consent Agenda.

That item was the only one pulled for further discussion. Mayor Mboka announced at the last meeting he would be out of of the country. Jamie Mathy ran the meeting. Also absent was City Manager Tim Gleason, nobody said why.

Most of the discussion and comments wanted accountability by the police department. They want a written policy on what is going to be done with the video. The final result tabled the vote until the first meeting in February (Becker and Montney voted no) . Meanwhile the PSCRB (Public Safety and Community Relations Board) will have a meeting in early February where the cameras will be a hot topic.

A Hill-HarrisX poll was taken last July in response to rising criminal activity. This chart sums up the findings:

Obviously de-funding the police didn’t rate high. 61% of Black voters want the same amount of policing, 54% of Hispanics voters want more. My question is: Why does the police department want license plate reading cameras instead of surveillance?

Read the associated story here: https://thehill.com/hilltv/what-americas-thinking/562738-poll-44-percent-want-more-police-in-their-community-compared-to

Just hit play to hear the Council discussion, start at the beginning to hear all public comment: