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Council pauses Flock ALPR pilot, reallocates funds and authorizes DVR and evidence system procurement
Summary
After extensive public comment about privacy and data-sharing, Mercer Island's council voted to pause a stationary Flock ALPR pilot and reallocate $15,000 toward new in-car camera equipment; the council also authorized the city manager to procure an in-car DVR system and digital evidence management system and appropriated $85,710 from reserves.
The Mercer Island City Council voted to pause the stationary Flock automated license-plate-reader (ALPR) pilot and to reallocate $15,000 from that pilot toward procurement of in-car digital video recording equipment. Separately, the council authorized the city manager to negotiate and execute a service agreement for a new in-car DVR system and cloud-based digital evidence management system and appropriated $85,710 from the police in-car camera replacement reserve and the technology and equipment fund.
Management analyst Carson Hornsby told the council staff had coordinated with Flock representatives but that new information — including a University of Washington report noting federal access to Flock data and a recent Skagit County court ruling classifying Flock images as public records — prompted the recommendation to pause the pilot. "So given all of this information, the city manager has made a recommendation to pause the Flock pilot program, and reappropriate the $15,000 from this project towards a new in-car DVR system and additional evidence management system," Hornsby said.
Public comment before the vote was substantial and largely opposed to stationary ALPRs. Speakers raised privacy and immigration-enforcement concerns and cited public-records rulings. Kian Bradley urged the council to amend vendor agreements or pause deployment, saying, "Giving a private company unfettered surveillance access is not a good idea." Eric Dubovsky called ALPRs "warrantless dragnet surveillance" and questioned their effectiveness relative to impacts on residents. Sarah Karim described fears voiced in an immigration-focused listening session and said ALPRs could "threaten their ability to live freely, to move without fear." Addie Smith separately used the public-comment period to accuse local police of refusing to take reports after alleged racially motivated harassment; she said she was arrested after defending herself and accused the city of suppressing hate-crime complaints.
Chief (Bennett) commented on technical differences between systems, describing Flock as premised on data-sharing while patrol-car ALPRs match local hit-lists. "The premise of Flock cameras is data sharing, where the premise of LPRs within the patrol vehicles are just matching against hit lists," the chief said. After council discussion, a motion to place the Flock pilot on hold and reappropriate the pilot funding passed on a roll-call vote with Aye votes recorded. The subsequent motion to authorize procurement and the $85,710 appropriation also passed on roll-call vote.
The council directed staff to return with detailed procurement documents and a separate agenda item on automated parking enforcement in early 2026. The Flock pilot remains paused pending further analysis and legal/policy developments.
