Poulsbo residents press council on traffic camera privacy; officials say city cameras are not ALPR systems

Poulsbo — Residents urged the City Council on Nov. 12 to clarify what commercial and city traffic‑camera systems are in use and to adopt stronger limits on data sharing after reports about law‑enforcement and commercial use of some camera systems. Pam Keeley, a Lions Park resident, asked the city to audit network data, disable any national‑lookup capability and adopt an amendment prohibiting data disclosure without written city consent or a valid legal order.

The request followed local reporting that identified Flock Safety cameras at some commercial sites. "We'd also like to ask the Poulsbo Police Department to make regular audits of their network data," Keeley told the council, and urged the city to “disable the national lookup feature on your system if you have that.” She also asked Poulsbo to consider declaring itself a sanctuary city.

Councilmembers and staff responded in the meeting that Poulsbo's deployed traffic cameras are not automated license‑plate readers (ALPRs) and do not perform live plate‑to‑warrant lookups. Councilmember Eckert described the city's cameras as recording video for later review when staff or officers examine particular events rather than feeding a real‑time law‑enforcement lookup function. "Our cameras take video ... and that's then reviewed at a later time. It's not a real‑time thing," he said.

Police officials and staff said they contacted vendors during the inquiry and received written assurances. Chief Ron Harding and staff reported they reached out to both Flock Safety and Vera Mobility; staff said the companies confirmed Vera does not use Flock cameras, the companies do not share data with one another, and that Poulsbo does not share traffic‑program data with federal agencies. Councilmembers directed staff to keep a posted statement available and referred residents to the police department's full statement on the department's Facebook page.

Why it matters: The exchange underscored residents' privacy concerns as municipalities deploy camera‑based traffic enforcement. Poulsbo officials said the city’s program is designed to promote safety through later review and that, at this time, the city is not operating systems that automatically identify license plates in real time. Keeley’s request for explicit limitations on data disclosure and for regular audits remains a public ask; councilmembers said they would refer the request to staff and referenced the posted police statement for details.

What’s next: Councilmembers said staff will maintain transparency by keeping the police statement public and by responding to follow‑up requests. Keeley’s specific ordinance request and a sanctuary‑city declaration were not acted on at the meeting.