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After hours of public comment, council approves Flock Safety lease with strict contract conditions
Summary
Following extensive testimony and technical questions, Woodstock’s council approved a three‑year lease with Flock Safety for six multi‑lens cameras on the Square, adding explicit contract conditions including a 120‑day city opt‑out, non‑appropriation clause, attorney review on data ownership/security, no facial‑recognition capability, and no use of footage for Flock AI training.
On Feb. 3, 2026, after extensive staff presentations and more than three hours of public comment, the Woodstock City Council approved a three‑year lease with Flock Safety for six multi‑lens cameras to be sited on the Woodstock Square. The vote was 4–3 after heated public testimony from residents, business owners, cybersecurity professionals and former law‑enforcement staff.
City staff and the police chief presented two vetted options: a Flock lease (6 cameras, multi‑lens/PTZ capability, vendor‑hosted cloud storage, ~ $22,000 per year) and a purchase option from a second vendor (MMT/Verkada, 8 locations with 18 lenses, one‑time purchase ~ $45,000 plus setup). The police chief said both options would improve the department’s ability to investigate incidents that occur in dense crowds and support prosecutions, but acknowledged the community privacy concerns voiced at the November meeting and in emails.
During nearly four hours of public comment, speakers from both sides described tradeoffs. Opponents cited documented incidents of exposed Flock camera streams, third‑party access controversies, and the risks of cloud‑hosted systems; many asked the council to pursue a closed‑circuit/local‑storage (on‑prem) alternative or to delay for more study and a town hall. Supporters — including security professionals and a former police administrator — said professionally managed camera systems materially assist investigations, recovery of stolen vehicles and arrests at large gatherings. Staff described audit trails, multifactor authentication and policy controls for access.
Council’s approval was conditional. Before the lease is executed the city requested and the vendor agreed to contract terms (to be finalized in legal review) that require: a 120‑day opt‑out/cancellation right at the city’s discretion, a non‑appropriation clause, attorney review with staff satisfaction on data ownership/access/security and retention, explicit prohibition on enabling facial‑recognition capability, and prohibition on using Woodstock footage for vendor AI training. Council additionally asked staff to seek external security‑audit documentation from the vendor and to verify supported operating‑system versions for deployed hardware.
The council’s majority framed the measure as equipping police for large public events and investigations while trying to balance privacy and security through contractual protections. Dissenting council members said the vendor’s track record and cloud architecture posed unacceptable privacy and national‑database concerns.
