Police present sole‑source request for Flock license‑plate readers; council questions privacy and operational safeguards

Lieutenant Scott Mely of the Newington Police Department presented a sole‑source procurement request to deploy Flock license‑plate readers (LPRs) in town, funded in part with ARPA money for hardware. The department said the system will operate on a mix of standalone solar poles and hardwired points at primary entry corridors, and will be integrated with neighboring municipalities and some private partners (retail and multifamily properties) to improve stolen‑vehicle alerts and cross‑jurisdictional investigations.

Mely told councilors the key benefits are increased crime solvability and real‑time alerts: when a vehicle of interest is detected the system can push notifications to dispatch and patrol units. He said other Connecticut towns are using the same vendor and the LPRs have helped solve cases and deter offenders who avoid cameraed routes.

Councilors asked about privacy, access and data retention. Mely responded the department requires a criminal‑justice reason and a case number for searches; Flock’s system is not an open public archive and staff cannot run arbitrary searches without justification. He said data are purged on a roughly 30‑day cycle unless evidence is retained for an active case. He also described operational safeguards: Flock’s employees reportedly cannot access town data, and retained clips are saved only when tied to an investigation.

Councilors asked whether courts accept LPR evidence; the department said LPR data and derived footage have been accepted in prosecutions and that the system increases solvability. Staff described the standalone solar poles as compact and intentionally visible; they said some cameras will be placed at main entry points where fiber or trenching would be costly.

The presentation prompted questions from council about notification to the public, whether LPRs deter criminals or merely displace them, community partnerships (private properties that also host LPRs), and whether residents can FOIA stored data. Mely said FOIA requests are governed by criminal‑justice rules and case restrictions; routine, retrospective bulk queries require investigatory justification and are not permitted without legal basis.

No final procurement vote was recorded in the meeting's public minutes; councilors expressed interest and asked staff to provide additional contract and policy details, including legal review of retention and access rules and options for community transparency.