Eugene council votes to pause use of Flock license‑plate cameras, asks city manager for policy review

On Oct. 8, 2025, the Eugene City Council voted 8‑0 to recommend pausing the city’s use of Flock Safety automatic license‑plate recognition (ALPR) cameras while the council pursues a broader policy discussion about surveillance, data sharing and vendor controls.

The pause came after a work session in which Chris Skinner, Eugene’s chief of police, presented technical and operational details about the cameras, the grant that funded them and the contractual changes the city negotiated with Flock Safety. Council members raised repeated concerns about third‑party access to data, vendor trustworthiness and the limits of council authority over contracts.

Chief Skinner said the ALPR system was acquired using a state grant from the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission and described ALPR as “a crime‑fighting tool.” He said the cameras capture still photographs of vehicles and license plates in the public right of way, do not perform facial recognition and do not cross‑reference license plates with DMV records, creating a standalone database of images with date, time and location. Skinner said the city has opted out of Flock’s nationwide data‑sharing network so “no entity outside Oregon can access EPD’s image database.”

Skinner told the council the cameras and supporting software are hosted…