Norman council studies Flock license-plate readers amid privacy and legal questions

The Norman City Council held a study session Tuesday, Aug. 19, to review a proposal for leasing Flock automated license-plate reader (LPR) cameras for use by the Norman Police Department. Deputy Chief Jackson and a Flock representative described how the cameras work, estimated costs, data-handling safeguards and machine-learning training practices, while council members raised concerns about privacy, legal authority in Oklahoma and long-term controls on system upgrades.

The discussion matters because LPR systems raise both public-safety and civil-liberty questions: proponents told the council the cameras help recover missing people, solve hit-and-runs and provide investigative leads, while critics and some council members warned about potential misuse, third-party sharing and unclear state law about using LPR-derived evidence in criminal prosecutions.

Trevor Chandler, identified in the meeting as director of public affairs for Flock, described the company’s LPR product and its deployment model. Chandler said the cameras capture license-plate images and keep them on a rolling 30-day retention schedule and that the company stores data in AWS GovCloud with end-to-end encryption at CJIS standards. “We have…it's very customizable, including auditing and transparency protections,” Chandler said, adding that Flock does not perform facial recognition…