Residents urge Norwalk committee to pause Flock license-plate readers; police cite crime drops and audits

Residents and community organizers pressed the Norwalk Public Safety and General Government Committee on April 23 to pause the city’s use of Flock license-plate reader (LPR) cameras until contractual protections for data access, retention and third-party sharing are clarified.

At public comment, Elana Suniga, a Norwalk resident, told the committee she examined a work order for the city’s LPR deployment and found that it “does not clearly define how the data is handled, who has access to it, whether it can be shared or how we ensure it's actually deleted after 30 days.” She urged council members to review the agreement and add enforceable safeguards if they are missing.

The committee then heard from Chief Walsh of the Norwalk Police Department, who described the department’s deployment of 11 Flock cameras since 2023 and said the system was intended primarily to combat stolen vehicles. “Since the implementation of the Flock cameras, we have seen practically a 45% decrease…