Automatic license plate readers or APLRs capture license plate numbers that come into view along with the location, date, and time. Mobile has already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to use this technology, and the city council is set to vote on a $262,168 contract renewal with Alabama-based company Protec Video.

"Our goal is to protect this community. And so whatever technology we use, will always be used to do that," said Public Safety Director Lawrence Battiste.

The contract before the city council states it's for the annual renewal of 227 Eagle Eye surveillance cameras and 189 APLRs. Battiste won't say if they're utilized on patrol cars or at fixed locations along roads or both.

"This technology gives us in many cases, the ability to prevent as well as solve crimes. So again, it's not that I'm being secretive or trying to hide anything, but I certainly don't want to give away our advantages," said Battiste.

Law enforcement agencies across the country are using APLRs.

"The way that these cameras work is both proactive and for investigative uses after crimes," said Flock Safety Spokesperson Holly Beilin. "It can actually alert law enforcement officers if a stolen vehicle or a vehicle associated with a wanted offender or missing person passes the camera."

Flock Safety supplies APLRS to more than 1,500 police departments including agencies in Alabama and Florida. Beilin says even neighborhood associations or businesses concerned about crime can install them and connect that data with police.

"We're currently helping law enforcement agencies solve hundreds of crimes a day. And it's not just stolen vehicle crimes like you would expect from a license plate reader system. It's homicides, it's finding missing children, missing endangered seniors, it's burglaries, assaults, kind of the full gamut of violent and property crime," said Beilin.

The city council is expected to vote on the contract renewal next Tuesday. Battiste says data collected that’s not used for investigations is purged after 90 days. Beilin says Flock Safety deletes the data after 30 days if it’s not being used in an investigation.