Eugene Police Commission postpones ALPR policy discussion as community raises privacy, enforcement concerns

The Eugene Police Commission voted to postpone further discussion of Policy 1204, the department’s automated license plate reader (ALPR) policy, until after a Eugene City Council work session on Oct. 8.

The vote followed a presentation from Chief Skinner explaining that the council work session, ongoing vendor negotiations with Flock, and discussions with the independent police auditor could change the policy’s scope. “That particular work session will be a really deep dive into the technology, the contract, the procurement process,” Chief Skinner said, noting the city is negotiating more restrictive contract language and exploring civilian audit oversight.

Why this matters: Commissioners and residents said the policy decision should follow preparation of technical, contractual and oversight information. Several commissioners supported delay so the commission could review results from the council work session and any revised contract language before making policy recommendations.

Public comment turned to the Flock Safety system, with 17 people signed up after the meeting extended the public comment period. Speakers described the vendor system as more than a license-plate reader, saying it can build persistent location profiles and is susceptible to misuse. “Flock has a financial incentive to allow data access to private third parties for a price, creating a conflict of interest,” one commenter said. Another asked the commission to “recommend to the city council to end the contract simply.”

Chief Skinner told the commission he is negotiating contract language with Flock on data security and data sharing and is discussing possible civilian audit involvement with the city auditor. “If both of those things land where I need them to land, we would probably be readjusting the policy anyway because none of those things are reflected in the policy as it stands,” Skinner said.

Commission action: A commissioner moved to postpone discussion of Policy 1204 until after the Oct. 8 council work session; the motion was seconded and approved. One commissioner stated they abstained because they had joined after the presentation. The commission did not adopt or amend Policy 1204 at the meeting.

Resident concerns raised in public comment included: complaints that the system can be used for immigration enforcement, evidence of misidentification and misuse in other jurisdictions, requests for local data storage only, independent audits of searches and access logs, and proposals to cancel the Flock contract. Several speakers emphasized that the vendor’s devices can be configured to do more than read license plates and urged the commission to push for stronger limits on capability, storage and sharing.

What’s next: The commission will revisit Policy 1204 after the City Council work session and after any contract changes or audit arrangements are finalized. Commissioners and staff said they expect to review the council briefing materials and vendor contract revisions before returning the item to the commission for policy action.

Quotes from the meeting are verbatim and attributed to meeting speakers. The commission did not adopt any new policy changes at this meeting and did not direct staff to sign or cancel the vendor contract.

Ending: Commissioners praised the turnout and said they will consider the public input and the council work session before taking further action on Policy 1204.