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Residents urge council to pause $170,000 Flock ALPR camera purchase over privacy concerns; police outline safeguards
Summary
At a Bluffton Town Council meeting, several residents opposed a proposed $170,000 purchase of Flock license-plate–reading cameras and $74,000–$76,000 in annual maintenance, citing privacy and racial-impact concerns; Police Chief described a restrictive access policy requiring a case number and said recordings are retained 30 days.
Residents pressed the council to reconsider a proposed license-plate reader system from Flock, arguing the equipment could enable invasive tracking and disproportionately affect minority communities.
Sharon Brown, a Bluffton resident, told the council she opposed including "$170,000 in the budget to purchase flock camera system and to maintain it $76,000 annually," and warned the cameras "will be used by the Bluffton Police Department to capture and analyze license plate numbers of our citizens... allowing tracking the citizens of Bluffton by use of an unmanned technologized recognition camera." Another resident, Abel Brown, said, "I do not believe that we need the police department being big brother watching over its citizens with devices that can cause more harm than good." Both asked for public meetings with the chief and town manager before the council authorizes spending.
Police Chief (title used in transcript) responded to those concerns during a follow-up question-and-answer exchange. The chief said staff are drafting a "very restrictive" policy and that "these cameras are not to keep an eye on people; it's to track vehicles, during a when a crime is committed." The chief added that investigators must enter a case number and the name of the searching officer to retrieve footage, and that Flock retains recordings for about 30 days before deletion.
Council members pressed for further safeguards. One asked whether an ALPR "hit" alone would justify a traffic stop; the chief said it would not, stressing that officers must verify DMV records and develop probable cause before stopping a vehicle. The chief also described training plans: vendor instruction on operation plus internal policy training tied to disciplinary consequences for misuse.
Why it matters: ALPR systems can speed investigations by matching plates to hot lists, but privacy advocates argue the systems collect broad movement data that can be retained and misused. Residents asked the council to delay spending until policy language, community engagement, and oversight mechanisms — including how entries are added to "hot lists" and audit trails for searches — are publicly available.
What happens next: Staff said a policy draft exists (vendor-provided template under review) and that training and disciplinary measures will be part of implementation. Council did not take a final vote on equipment procurement during this meeting.
