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Residents urge Shelton council not to renew Flock Safety camera contract
Summary
More than a dozen residents urged the Shelton City Council to cancel or not renew its contract with Flock Safety, citing privacy, documented errors and liability; city staff said a study session and technical briefing will be scheduled to answer questions.
Dozens of residents used the council's public-comment period on July 21 to demand that Shelton not renew its contract with Flock Safety, the license-plate reader vendor used by the city's police department.
"I am here today to ask that the city remove the flock cameras that are recording my movements throughout Shelton," said Sherry Dysart, identifying herself as a Mason County resident who shops in Shelton. Several other speakers echoed Dysart. Devlin Finney asked where contract funding came from and whether the system allows statewide or national access, data sharing or device‑pings. "Where are the funds coming from for the current contract? How much was it?" Finney asked. Julianne Gale cited independent reports and cases she said show misreads and wrongful detentions, and warned of taxpayer liability if errors lead to lawsuits.
Other speakers recounted personal harms and national developments. "I was pulled out of the car at gunpoint for wrong information," said Adam Herzing, a veteran, describing an incident he said followed an ALPR error. Matthew Hilton noted that larger departments have paused Flock systems and raised data‑sharing concerns; Carissa Walasek, a special‑education teacher, cautioned that surveillance can harm children. Several speakers called for a public survey and for the council to weigh documented cases of misuse before renewing.
City Manager Mark Ziegler responded later in the meeting, saying the Flock agreement functions like a subscription and that staff would prepare a study-session presentation addressing system capabilities, controls, recent state legislation and questions raised by the public. "We'll be developing a presentation to come to council at a future study session to further inform the council and the public of the capabilities of our flock system," Ziegler said, adding that some capabilities mentioned by commenters "might be a capability but aren't capabilities in our current system." The council did not vote on the contract at the meeting.
The council requested a staff briefing; no formal renewal or termination action was taken at this session.
