Riverdale Park council delays decision on Placer AI foot-traffic analytics amid privacy and data-quality concerns

Town staff presented an agreement option with Placer AI — a location-intelligence platform — and said neighboring municipalities already use the service to track anonymized foot-traffic patterns, evaluate events and support business-recruitment efforts. Staff said the platform aggregates third-party location data (from partners such as map apps) and creates statistical reports and heat maps rather than tracking identified individuals.

A Ward 3 resident, Sarah Longwell, raised privacy concerns about an opt-out model and potential re-identification risk when anonymized geolocation data are triangulated against other sources. "I'm concerned about a tracking system that requires a certain amount of digital literacy for residents to opt out," she said. Council members echoed privacy and civil-rights worries and asked whether data could be used or subpoenaed by federal enforcement agencies. Council member Smith said he was "incredibly skeptical" and warned of potential misuse, including by federal immigration authorities.

Other council members noted potential value for event evaluation and grant applications but requested more rigorous evaluation of alternatives, including low-cost hardware counters, consulting-based studies or examining how College Park and Hyattsville use the service. Staff said Placer AI provides townwide aggregated data and that subscribing would grant Riverdale Park access to existing datasets; staff also said the company claims not to share personal information or track individual devices.

The council did not vote on an agreement. Members asked staff to collect peer-jurisdiction experiences, compare options (consultant vs. subscription vs. hardware), clarify costs and reporting frequency, and return with a recommendation at a future meeting.