Talent police describe limits on Flock license-plate cameras, stress audits and policy edits
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Summary
Talent police told the council their Flock automatic license-plate readers were grant-funded, capture rear vehicle images only, retain raw plate data 30 days (search logs retained indefinitely), and that staff will add explicit prohibitions on using or releasing ALPR data for immigration enforcement; out-of-state access has been disabled.
Talent police briefed the City Council on the department’s use of Flock automatic license-plate reader (ALPR) cameras and described recent policy changes and access limits intended to address privacy and security concerns.
Chief Snook said the department acquired Flock cameras through a Criminal Justice Commission grant and has had the system in service for almost a year. He said the cameras are designed to detect rear license plates and vehicle images only, not faces, and that the department is adding language to its ALPR policy to reiterate that data will not be used or released for immigration-enforcement purposes beyond Oregon law.
"We are prohibited from releasing further administrative or civil information for civil or administrative immigration matters," Snook said, adding that the department already limits data sharing to Oregon law-enforcement agencies that must abide by similar rules. He said the city has turned off permissions that previously allowed out-of-state access.
On data retention, Snook said raw ALPR data are stored for 30 days and then deleted, while records of searches performed by officers are kept indefinitely. "Searches by officers would be stored," he said, and confirmed officers must enter a case or incident number when running a search so those searches can be audited and traced to a particular officer and agency.
Councilors asked where data are stored; staff said the system uses cloud storage. They also asked whether search records are tied to individual officers; Snook replied that searches record the user and agency, allowing audits to identify who ran a query.
Snook described the system’s "hot list" functionality: if a vehicle linked to a crime, a stolen car or a missing person is on the list and passes a camera, the system can alert officers who opt to receive notifications. He said the department has four cameras installed at fixed positions (for example, along South Pacific Highway where vehicles enter town from I‑5) and that Flock or Flock contractors installed them.
Snook acknowledged national scrutiny and said he had discussed practices with other Oregon agencies, including Eugene, which he said had not yet reactivated its system after review. He also said Flock has strengthened login controls, adding multi-factor authentication since earlier concerns were raised.
City staff said they will share Sen. Ron Wyden’s October 16 letter raising questions about Flock’s backend security with the council. Staff also said they are discussing memoranda of understanding for partner agencies that would have access to Talent’s data and that they expect to finalize policy edits shortly.
The council did not take formal action during the study session; staff said updated ALPR policy language and the department’s transparency portal will be provided to council when available.