Depew trustees reject 3-year Flock Safety camera contract after privacy, cost concerns

The Village of Depew Board of Trustees voted 3-2 on Jan. 13 to reject a proposed three-year contract with Flock Safety to install eight cameras in the village, a measure the police department said would integrate Depew with camera systems in the towns of Cheektowaga and Lancaster.

The cameras, described in the motion as seven fixed cameras and one mobile unit, were proposed to aid crime investigation and interjurisdictional information sharing. The motion failed after Trustee Murawski and Mayor Kevin Peterson voted in favor and Trustee Zimba, Trustee Kraft and Deputy Mayor Adolph voted against it.

Trustees who opposed the contract framed their objections around cost and data privacy. Deputy Mayor Adolph said the village could face rising per-camera costs and that images would be stored on Amazon Web Services (AWS). “All data and photographs and footage is stored on AWS servers. These are Amazon servers,” Adolph said, adding that images are reportedly deleted after 10 days “unless they are saved down,” and expressing uncertainty about back-end data use. Adolph also said the town already has practical access to cameras in neighboring jurisdictions and that Depew can request access when needed.

Trustee Zimba, who spoke from the board about prior opposition, said the cameras are intrusive because they operate continuously. “These are on 24/7,” Zimba said, adding that although she supports providing resources to police, she remained opposed.

Mayor Kevin Peterson, who voted yes, said the funding for the cameras was provided by the State of New York and represented an opportunity to bring Depew in line with neighboring jurisdictions. “This is money that was allocated by the State of New York…an opportunity to put us in line with the rest of them,” Peterson said.

The motion as introduced described a three-year contract for eight cameras intended to “enhance the safety and security throughout the Village of Depew” and to integrate with systems in the Town of Cheektowaga and the Town of Lancaster. Chief McNamara provided an overview to the board, saying the systems have been used in Western New York to assist in solving crimes and prosecuting suspects.

After discussion and individual explanations of vote positions, the board recorded the final roll-call tally as: Trustee Murawski — yes; Trustee Zimba — no; Trustee Kraft — no; Deputy Mayor Adolph — no; Mayor Kevin Peterson — yes. The motion did not carry.

The board did not adopt alternative conditions or direct staff to renegotiate contract terms during the meeting. Trustees who opposed the measure said they remained open to revisiting the topic in the future.

Votes and next steps on the issue were not set by the board at the meeting; no revised agreement or staff assignment was recorded.