Resident questions spark Council discussion about Flock ALPR retention and oversight; Law Director says data deleted after 30 days

Councilmember Steve Swidarski summarized a detailed resident email raising governance questions about the city's Flock automated license-plate-reader (ALPR) system, including record-keeping, retention policies, auditing, vendor oversight and whether centralized usage logs are being maintained. Swidarski read portions of the email aloud, including the line: "This is not in opposition to the automatic license plate readers or Flock, but what are our record keeping retention policies or policies regarding record keeping and retention, auditing, vendor oversight and how the system is being used and described."

Law Director Mark Barbour said the city has received multiple public-records requests from the same person and that the requests' wording has complicated his response; Barbour emphasized that Bay Village follows its record-retention plan and described operational practice: "The data is derived from pictures of the front and rear of automobiles as they pass under the camera. That is deleted after 30 days. It is no longer administratively necessary and serves no purpose. In criminal cases when we do use it, they print a picture of the rear of the vehicle and note the date, time, location, and it is placed in a criminal case file." Barbour and Chief Rob Gillespie encouraged councilmembers or residents who want more detail to meet with Police Department staff (including Lieutenant Palmer) for a technical review of how the system is used and the records that are retained.