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Council highlights Flock suspension and draws public calls to limit private ALPR and other surveillance
Summary
Mayor Payne told the council the city suspended the Flock ALPR program, removed equipment and will not renew the contract; public commenters pressed for bans or regulation of private ALPR deployments and Ring‑style cameras, and urged scrutiny of surveillance near elections.
At the start of the Feb. 24 meeting Mayor Payne addressed an ongoing rally and read a statement on the city’s handling of automated license‑plate reader (ALPR) technology (often called ‘Flock’). She said the city suspended the Flock camera program in December, removed all camera equipment and will not renew the current contract with FLOC. Mayor Payne added that data outside the required 30‑day retention window for local investigations has been deleted.
“Earning and maintaining public trust is critical to this council, city leadership and the Olympia Police Department,” the mayor said as she explained actions the city is taking and previewed a resolution and ordinance tied to sanctuary city values that the council would consider on the consent calendar.
Multiple public commenters after the business items urged the council to go further: Nova Stewart thanked the council for suspending Flock and urged the city not to replace FLOC with another ALPR vendor, to consider bans or restrictions on private deployments of ALPRs, and to consider regulation of doorbell/camera systems that use automated matching or cloud retention. Jeff Thomas and other commenters raised broader concerns about outsourcing surveillance to private companies and the risks of live streaming or cloud retention of images — including concerns about election‑site surveillance.
City staff and council members noted that the Olympia Police Department initiated the contract suspension last year and that the city manager and legal staff have supported the city’s sanctuary commitments and related code actions.
No new contract or replacement vendor was proposed at the meeting. Staff said they will continue to engage with the community on public safety technology and the city’s policy choices and urged residents to provide input through the city’s processes.
