OMNIQ says a southeastern Pennsylvania township and a northeastern Pennsylvania borough have signed two-year agreements for its Q Shield vehicle-recognition system, but the company has not publicly named either municipality.

Flock Safety may be the name Pennsylvania residents have been hearing most often when automated license plate readers come up.

But Flock is a company. Automated license plate recognition, commonly known as ALPR, is the technology.

And another company is now entering Pennsylvania.

OMNIQ Corp. announced Tuesday, Sept. 29, that two Pennsylvania municipalities have signed agreements to deploy its Q Shield vehicle-recognition system. According to the company, these will be its first Q Shield deployments in Pennsylvania. GlobeNewswire

There is one interesting detail:

OMNIQ has not identified either municipality.

The company said only that one is a borough in northeastern Pennsylvania and the other is a township in southeastern Pennsylvania. GlobeNewswire

Nothing in the announcement identifies Upper Merion Township or Montgomery County.

According to OMNIQ, the two initial deployments will include a combined 18 cameras at nine intersections along roads carrying approximately 80,000 vehicles per day, based on PennDOT traffic data cited by the company.

Both systems are expected to begin operating sometime in 2026. GlobeNewswire

Q Shield uses license plate and vehicle-recognition technology. OMNIQ says its system can capture information including a vehicle's license plate, jurisdiction, make, model and color. Depending on how an agency configures the system, the technology can also compare vehicles against law-enforcement lists and support other public-safety investigations. Omniq

For the two Pennsylvania deployments announced Tuesday, however, the primary purpose will be vehicle-registration enforcement.

OMNIQ says the system will identify vehicles with:

At one of the two Pennsylvania locations, the system will also identify vehicles that may lack required insurance coverage. GlobeNewswire

The company says potential violations will be sent to authorized officers for review and that an officer will make the final enforcement decision.

The financial arrangement is also different from the traditional model of a municipality simply purchasing or leasing camera equipment.

Both Pennsylvania agreements are for two years and include a six-month evaluation period.

OMNIQ says it will receive a processing fee associated with citations that are issued following review and authorization by the local agency. The company describes that arrangement as a transaction-based recurring-revenue model tied to enforcement activity. GlobeNewswire

The amount of the processing fee was not disclosed in Tuesday's announcement.

OMNIQ has used similar revenue-based models elsewhere. Previous Q Shield deployments have combined vehicle-recognition cameras with citation-management technology for local governments. Omniq

That question has become increasingly important as Pennsylvania lawmakers consider how automated license plate reader systems should be regulated.

OMNIQ included several statements about privacy and data security in Tuesday's announcement.

The company says license plate information collected through Q Shield is processed and stored on a private network, with access limited to authorized personnel at the contracting agency.

OMNIQ also says data is retained and deleted according to the policies of the individual agency and applicable state law, and that the company does not sell plate information or share it with third parties for commercial purposes. GlobeNewswire

Those are representations made by OMNIQ. The company did not identify the two Pennsylvania agencies, so their individual policies, retention periods and access rules are not yet publicly known from the announcement.

The announcement is also a useful reminder of a distinction Upper Merion Area Spotlight has emphasized throughout its recent coverage.

Flock Safety is one company operating in the automated license plate reader industry.

ALPR is the broader technology.

OMNIQ describes Q Shield as an AI-based vehicle-recognition platform that incorporates license plate recognition along with additional vehicle characteristics. Omniq

That distinction could become increasingly important as Pennsylvania decides how to regulate these systems.

Some legislative proposals specifically discuss Flock Safety, while others would apply more broadly to automated license plate readers regardless of which company manufactures or operates them.

OMNIQ's Pennsylvania announcement came just one day after the Pennsylvania House Judiciary and Transportation committees held a joint informational meeting specifically on the use of automated license plate reader systems.

The Sept. 28 meeting was chaired by Judiciary Chairman Tim Briggs and Transportation Chairman Ed Neilson. The official House record lists it as an informational meeting and shows that no legislation was considered during the proceeding. Palegis

Meanwhile, House Bill 2771 remains before the House Judiciary Committee.

That legislation would establish statewide requirements governing automated license plate reader systems and impose penalties for certain violations. As of Sept. 29, the bill has not received a committee vote. Palegis

So while Pennsylvania lawmakers are debating what rules should govern ALPR technology, the commercial market for that technology is continuing to expand within the Commonwealth.

OMNIQ says it is already in discussions with additional Pennsylvania municipalities. GlobeNewswire

For now, that's the unanswered Pennsylvania question.

OMNIQ says:

One is a borough in northeastern Pennsylvania.

One is a township in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Both signed two-year agreements.

Together, they are expected to deploy 18 cameras at nine intersections.

And OMNIQ says additional Pennsylvania municipalities are already in discussions with the company. GlobeNewswire

But the identities of the first two have not been publicly disclosed.

Upper Merion Area Spotlight will keep an eye on that.

Because as Pennsylvania's debate over automated license plate readers continues, Flock clearly isn't the only name residents may start hearing.

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Thank you for reading,

Corey