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Committee authorizes noncompetitive procurement justification for Flock Safety license-plate readers
Summary
Norwalk authorized the police department to use a noncompetitive procurement justification with Flock Safety Group to pay for ALPR hardware and software for the first year of a 24-month agreement; committee members asked about camera mobility, data storage and interagency sharing.
Norwalk’s Public Safety and General Government Committee on June 26 authorized the police department to use a noncompetitive procurement justification form with Flock Safety Group for payment of hardware and software support for automatic license plate readers (ALPRs), covering the first year of a 24-month agreement that runs from Aug. 25, 2025, to Aug. 24, 2027.
Councilperson Nicole Eady moved the item; the committee approved the noncompetitive procurement justification unanimously. Deputy Chief Lepore presented the request and the operational rationale, saying the initial first-year cost had been funded by a Department of Justice Project Safe Neighborhoods grant awarded May 28, 2024.
“We purchased six of them with the grant,” Lepore said, referring to fixed ALPR units the department deployed in locations with histories of car burglaries and stolen vehicles. Lepore said the city currently has 11 fixed ALPR units installed and that several neighboring jurisdictions (New Canaan, Darien, Danbury, Fairfield) also use the Flock system, allowing searches across partner agencies.
Committee members asked whether the units are fixed or mobile; Lepore said the installed units are fixed to poles and are self-contained, typically powered with solar panels. He added that the department also has license-plate reading capability on marked patrol cars and dashboard cameras, which can capture plates while mobile. On data linkage and privacy, Lepore said the system is “not part of the DMV system” and “not part of any type of national crime database,” adding that the system’s search tools allow queries by partial plate, color, make and model. He also told the committee that the purchasing department has approved the payment and that funding for the contract year is already budgeted.
Members pressed operational details — whether Flock offers mobile trailer units and how installation is handled — and were told vendor installation is required for pole-mounted units and that mobile/trailer solutions exist but have additional equipment and costs.
The committee discussion distinguished deployment and oversight from the procurement authorization: the vote covers the procurement route and payment for year one; operational use, data retention and interagency access will follow departmental policies and vendor agreements.
