Montgomery County pauses limited rollout of security robot 'Parker' after council questions on privacy, outreach

Montgomery County’s Department of Transportation briefed the full County Council on plans for a one‑year pilot of an autonomous security robot in Garage 61 in Downtown Silver Spring, and Council members pressed DOT on public outreach, data access and privacy protections.

DOT Director Conklin told the council the device is a leased, vendor‑maintained security robot that will “patrol the garage, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on a regular cycle with a charging interval.” He said the vendor chosen through an open procurement stores video and license‑plate data for 30 days and that “we retain 100% ownership of this data.” Conklin also said, “It was not intended that the program would be announced through an early morning news story,” and apologized for the early media attention.

The device, described by DOT staff as roughly 5 feet tall and about 420 pounds, uses lidar for navigation, records 360‑degree video (DOT said it is not recording audio), and can log the presence of people, groups or vehicles and broadcast pre‑recorded messages. Joe Stomana of MCDOT said the county’s parking camera count has increased from about 280 cameras to roughly 488 systemwide since 2023 and that Garage 61 now has 36 cameras (up from 20).

Why it matters: Council members framed the discussion around public safety, trust and civil‑liberties concerns in a diverse downtown. Council members emphasized that outreach and multi‑language engagement are essential before a pilot goes into service, especially…