Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Surveillance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Residents and analysts urge Woodburn council to remove Flock license-plate cameras
Summary
Public commenters, including a state research analyst and local residents, urged the council to permanently remove the Flock license-plate camera system; staff said the devices are turned off and the city released the source data while awaiting a state law that will shape any final policy decision.
Public comment at Woodburn's March 9 council meeting focused on the city's paused Flock license-plate camera program, with speakers calling the technology intrusive, ineffective and harmful to immigrant communities.
Dr. Stalcup, a research analyst who said they work for the Oregon Department of Education, reviewed the city's audit and Flock data. "124 cases out of 1,910 is 6.4 percent of all investigations had some benefit using that flock data," Dr. Stalcup said, urging the council to evaluate the program's effectiveness before allocating more funds. "If I was asked by the governor's office to provide data on a program and I came back and said, 'well, it's 6.4% effective,' they would cut the budget."
Devin Freeland, a Ward 3 resident, told the council: "The community of Woodburn has made it very clear to this council that we do not want to have flock cameras installed in our town. Flock cameras reduce our safety, violate our privacy, and present an enormous risk of misuse." He asked the council to "permanently remove the cameras and to not consider any mass-surveillance technology or programs in the future without the explicit consent and endorsement of the entire community of Woodburn."
Laura Cox highlighted mental-health impacts and called the cameras an additional stressor for immigrant families: "This is causing a mental health crisis" and she asked the council again to remove the cameras.
City staff and the city manager described the system as paused. Mackenzie of the city attorney's office said the council previously voted to shut the cameras off and that "there's no power going to those cameras" until the council gives further direction. City Manager Scott Derickson said the city had maintained a relationship with Flock long enough to retrieve and publish the underlying dataset and an audit. "The source data is public now and available," he said, and staff recommended the council wait for the updated state law before making a final policy decision.
The council did not take an immediate policy vote; staff said they will return with recommendations after state clarifications and any further local review.
