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Resident urges review of Flock license‑plate readers; mayor defends department policies
Summary
A public commenter raised constitutional and data‑ownership concerns about Flock and other automated license‑plate readers; Mayor Jared Giddens told the council he trusts department policies and credited the system with helping make arrests while acknowledging the need for safeguards.
At the Jan. 27 Nixa City Council meeting, resident Ron Sanders urged elected officials to examine the use of automated license‑plate readers (LPRs), including systems marketed by Flock, and to consider local rules on data ownership, retention and permissible uses.
Sanders said a community forum convened people with expertise in government, law enforcement, IT and constitutional law and concluded the core issue is who owns the LPR data and how it is used. "The crux of the matter is who owns the data and how is the data allowed to be used... if the government's collecting data on us as normal everyday citizens and there is no probable cause that we've committed any crimes, does the government have the right to start collecting data on us?" he asked.
Mayor Jared Giddens responded that he and the council "trust our people" and the department's policies, said he was satisfied with how the city's system has been deployed, and cited arrests that resulted from the camera system. He also acknowledged that policies and oversight matter and said the issue being raised by the public was worth attention.
The exchange was part of the meeting's public comment period; no formal policy change or council direction on LPRs was made at the meeting.
