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Marketing Director Melissa Morandi and I just finished filming our monthly podcast on the topic of Flock cameras. Elizabethtown Police Chief Jeremy Thompson, along with Bellevue Police Chief Jon McClain, were our guests for this topic.
Chief Thompson shared a story with us that happened the first year Elizabethtown had Flock cameras. A woman was loading bags into her car when someone jumped into the driver’s seat of her running vehicle and drove away. In the back seat was her 1-year-old baby strapped into a car seat.
Their city has 40 cameras at its main entrances and exits. In the surrounding county, there are many additional cameras, bringing the total to over 90 cameras in the immediate area.
The plate number of the thief’s vehicle was loaded into the Flock system, and there were no hits from any of the cameras. This led them to believe the car was somewhere within Elizabethtown.
All of their effort was put into searching the city for this vehicle, and within one hour, the car was found with the baby unharmed still in the back seat.
Chief Thompson said that the cost of the cameras was nothing compared to the urgency of quickly reuniting this mother and child. Had the car gone out of the area, they also would have known which direction it was travelling.
I know and appreciate and understand there are privacy concerns, but in my opinion this new tool that will be implemented in Bellevue for solving crimes is a game-changer.
Let It Snow
Not really, as I have had enough of the snow for this year.
Public Services has been pushed to the limit by the first major snow in many years. On the Saturday of the big snowfall, our team was on the job at noon or shortly thereafter, before heading out on the roads around 2 pm. They worked continuously until 6 pm Sunday night.
The entire week following this focused on cutting back snow wherever possible to create additional parking without blocking any cleared areas. Between the water main break and the cleaning of sewer grates, regular maintenance kept them busy. There is also a lot of maintenance on our snow removal equipment. The heavier the snow, the more things that break. The four-wheel drive went out on one of our trucks.
Our Public Services team headed by Director Rick Mallery plans for snow events, and executes snow removal in a timely and effective manner the best they can.
I would also like to thank Bellevue’s Chad Lay and his employee Tim Massey for answering a call from some of the businesses on Fairfield Avenue to clean off the sidewalks and more. Chad brought his equipment and only asked for money for fuel used in his Bobcat. Tim worked at a reasonable price in very nasty weather conditions.
They loaded all of the snow into his truck and dumped it on city property nearby. Chad also does a lot of Volunteer work and discounted work for Holy Trinity School. Chad does snow removal on other streets around Berry Avenue and does not charge anything but only asks for people to make a donation to Holy Trinity School. Many thanks to him.
Read Ready Is Launching
We are looking to register families with children ages 0 to 5. Bellevue recently received an $8,000 grant for the Read Ready program.
Read Ready is an early learning initiative designed to ensure that every child entering Kindergarten is prepared to learn. It focuses on providing resources and support to families with children ages 0 to 5.
Get signed up for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library from the moment your children are born. In Kentucky, more than half of the children entering kindergarten are not considered ready or prepared. This stops now!
Bring your family to Bellevue’s Winter Carnival on February 28 from 11 am to 2 pm and sign up. There are many games and prizes along with a free book and a reading buddy, a stuffed penguin or polar bear.
Meanwhile, stay safe and warm.