The Alameda County Board of Supervisors approved a contract extension Tuesday for Flock Safety to continue running a network of automatic license plate readers in the county's unincorporated communities.
The supervisors voted 3-2 to extend the contract, which expired last summer, until July 1.
The vote authorizes payment to Flock for the work it has already performed while it was out of contract and for the work it will do during the extension.
As a result, Alameda County will pay Flock about $300,000 on top of the more than half-million dollars it already owed the company.
The contract paydown and extension were requested by Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez. She said the Flock cameras are an essential part of her department's "Real Time Information Center," which helps deputies spot and respond to crime using various cameras and drones.
Sheriff's Sargent Fenton Culley, who runs the center, told supervisors that the technology has been used to apprehend suspects in a wide range of cases, including murders, child abductions and robberies.
