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Marshalltown council approves another year of Flock camera funding after privacy debate
Summary
After public testimony about privacy and federal access to license-plate reader data, the Marshalltown City Council approved a resolution to use local option sales tax revenues to fund an additional year of the Flock automated license-plate reader system by 4–3.
The Marshalltown City Council on Feb. 9 approved using council-designated local option sales tax revenues to pay for an additional year of the Flock Safety automated license-plate reader (ALPR) system after a heated public-comment period and council debate.
Resident Lane Perry urged the council to exercise the contract’s non-appropriation clause and end the Flock contract, saying ALPR systems “collect data and store data on everyone in range first” and citing audits elsewhere where broader access occurred without local leaders’ knowledge. Perry told the council the city was being asked to allocate $119,000 for another year of service and said that “if current settings are restrictive, the Mountain View example shows that software switches can change and local leadership may not immediately know.”
Chief Chris Jones, Marshalltown Police Department, told the council the department audits Flock reports and uses safeguards tied to law-enforcement casework. Jones said access to Flock-derived information typically requires entry into systems such as the National Crime Information Center or state motor-vehicle databases tied to an investigation, and that misuse of the system would prompt internal investigation and possible termination. “I don't want officers within my agency using that information for personal use and more than likely they'll be terminated for that behavior,” he said.
Councilmembers debated whether local safeguards and contractual controls were sufficient and whether the budget tradeoffs justified another year of service. An amendment to postpone the funding decision to Feb. 23 failed on a 3–4 roll call. The resolution to authorize use of the designated sales-tax funds for the additional year passed on a 4–3 roll call.
The resolution authorizes city staff to apply the designated local option sales tax revenues for one more year of Flock service; the contract language cited by a speaker includes a non-appropriation clause that the city may use to terminate with 30 days’ written notice without penalty, and Flock is responsible for removing hardware under that clause, according to public comments.
Next steps: the approved appropriation moves forward under the existing contract; council members and speakers said they expect continued public scrutiny and oversight of how the system’s settings and data access are handled.
