The Pocatello City Council on a motion approved a contract with Flock Group Inc. to install automated license-plate reader (LPR) cameras, authorizing a sole-source procurement and the mayor’s signature on pertinent documents subject to legal review.

Council member Mangum moved to approve the Flock Group license-plate recognition services agreement; Council member Lyric seconded the motion. During the roll call the motion carried with multiple yes votes and a recorded no from Council member Paulson.

The vote followed more than 45 minutes of discussion from council members, the police department and the city attorney about how images and plate reads would be stored, who may access them and what oversight would be in place.

Zach Barcheith, Police Department, described how the system and department policies would be implemented if the contract is approved. “Before anything’s turned on and ready to go, we have policy that would be set in place,” Barcheith said, adding that the department intends to assign overseers and train officers who receive accounts.

Barcheith also read from a letter by Flock’s founder and CEO, Garrett Langley, and described the vendor’s retention practice: “It’s not saved for over 30 days unless there’s a crime that is found and we take a picture from the system and put it into a report number,” he said.

Council members pressed for specifics on data-sharing, external access and audit trails. Council member Mansfield asked whether outside agencies could access Pocatello’s captured data during investigations. Barcheith explained the system includes a sharing mechanism and that agencies with Flock systems can share information if they authorize it: “When you get the flock system, there’s checks that you can say, yes, I’m willing to share with other agencies,” he said.

Council member Paulson raised incidents from other jurisdictions to underscore potential risks, recounting published reports in which misread plates led to mistaken detentions and other harms. “There seems to be across the country, and that really does concern me for Pocatello to implement this,” Paulson said, referencing cases in New Mexico, Colorado and Kansas.

A city attorney responded to legal-risk questions, saying the department’s review of cases led to the conclusion that LPR use as described would likely fall within existing Fourth Amendment precedent because images are collected on public roads: “The images that are being taken are within the public domain. There’s not an expectation of privacy when you’re driving on a public road,” the city attorney said.

Council members seeking safeguards emphasized audits, logging and a named oversight role. Barcheith said the department plans to designate at least one person with primary responsibility for the system and a crime analyst as another point of expertise; he also said monitoring and audit systems are part of the vendor’s offering: “Part of the audit process is that monitoring system to make sure that there’s checks and balances,” he said.

Several council members said they supported the program’s public-safety benefits but wanted written departmental policy and legal review to govern use, data retention, interagency sharing and annual audits before broad deployment.

The council’s approval authorizes the mayor to sign the contract, with the agreement described as subject to a required waiting period and legal department review. The motion did not adopt a council-level policy; council members and staff said the department will finalize and implement an interdepartmental policy that legal has reviewed.

Supporters on the council framed the system as a tool to help solve crimes, rescue victims and remove illegal weapons from streets; critics cautioned that misuse or errors could have serious consequences for residents and pressed for strict oversight and access logs.

The council vote allows the city to proceed with contracting and initial implementation steps; staff said the department will continue drafting operational procedures and training plans before activating cameras at specific sites.