Euclid City Council is set to consider legislation Monday night that would add 11 more cameras to the city's blue-light safety camera network, a move that would push the total cost of the program from about $670,500 to roughly $870,500. The expansion would bring the network, which included 30 cameras across the city in 2024, to a significantly larger footprint under a new contract capped at $200,000.
What the Legislation Would Do
According to Cleveland.com, the proposed legislation would authorize the installation, maintenance and licensing of 11 additional cameras under a contract with Business Network Team of North Royalton, not to exceed $200,000. The added cameras would be supplied through Verkada, described in the same report as a cloud-based security technology company. Verkada's products are used broadly by businesses, schools and government agencies, though the outlet's agenda documents reviewed for the story did not identify where the new cameras would actually be installed.
The city's camera network has been growing for some time. Euclid launched its blue-light safety camera program in 2024 with 30 cameras citywide, and the system has continued to expand since. A separate municipal-camera effort detailed by news-herald.com identified proposed camera locations at Euclid City Hall, the Euclid Municipal Court, Memorial Park, outdoor basketball courts, Ralph V. Hill Memorial Pool, C.E. Orr Ice Arena and the future Community Recreation and Wellness Center. That report noted the city's community cameras are owned by Verkada Inc. and are capable of monitoring individuals and tracking their movements through cloud-based software.
Two Different Funding Pictures
How the expansion will actually be paid for is not entirely clear. The cleveland.com report on the new 11-camera proposal describes Euclid officials proposing to use unspent federal American Rescue Plan Act funds, along with general operating and capital-improvement dollars, to cover the increased cost. A separate January 2026 report from news-herald.com, describing a related municipal and recreation-facility camera project, said funding instead came from a $149,370 FEMA grant covering camera purchase, installation and first-year warranties, with future costs to be drawn from the general fund.
Euclid's camera spending has previously drawn on outside grants as well. The city's program has also been supported by a $149,370 State Homeland Security Program grant, as reported by news-herald.com, part of a broader pattern of the city pairing local funds with federal and state grant dollars to grow its surveillance footprint.
Privacy and Security Questions Linger
The reliance on Verkada hardware has drawn scrutiny before. In 2024, Verkada agreed to pay a $2.95 million civil penalty under a Justice Department stipulated order tied to alleged security failures and CAN-SPAM Act violations, according to news-herald.com's reporting. That settlement has fed broader unease about cloud-connected camera systems capable of tracking people's movements, concerns that have surfaced elsewhere in the region as well. A 2023 report from Scriptype on a blue-light camera pilot in Independence quoted concerns that described police security cameras as a “privacy sacrifice” and urged cities to evaluate whether such systems are actually effective.
Comparisons across Northeast Ohio show just how widespread this kind of camera buildout has become. A June 2026 cleveland.com analysis found Cuyahoga County had at least 1,717 automated license plate readers operated by government or private entities, with at least 1,106 of those owned or leased by municipalities, the county or Cleveland Metropolitan School District. North Royalton alone, home to the contractor Euclid is set to hire, had 10 Flock cameras that collected more than 220,000 license plates in a single month this spring, per the same cleveland.com data.
How Other Suburbs Have Approached Similar Systems
Euclid's price tag stands in sharp contrast to smaller blue-light pilots nearby. Independence's 2023 pilot project at Chestnut and Brecksville roads cost just $6,000 for the camera and its components, purchased from Paladin Protective Systems of Valley View, Scriptype reported. That system gave police real-time access to footage, which was retained for only three days unless preserved for an active investigation — a far smaller scale than what Euclid is now weighing for a citywide network approaching $900,000 in cumulative cost.
