Resident asks council for Flock Safety performance data and urges contract cancellation before renewal

Megan Steinle submitted written public comment that was read into the record asking the mayor and council to share the data and performance measures used to justify continued investment in Flock Safety, an automated license-plate reader provider. Steinle said she reviewed the department's publicly available documents, including the 2024 annual police report, and did not find the details needed to determine how often an ALPR meaningfully aided investigations in Binghamton.

"In the absence of this data, I would implore you to cancel the City of Binghamton's flock contract prior to the automatic renewal of the contract on the 8th," Steinle wrote. She asked whether the city tracked how many investigations involved a suspect vehicle, how often Flock was used, and how many arrests or case clearances were directly assisted by the vendor. Steinle noted the detective division handled a substantial workload in 2024 but the report did not specify how many cases involved vehicles or ALPR use.

Her submission asked the administration to distinguish improvements attributable to Flock from those resulting from staffing, community cameras, forensic evidence, regional crime analysis and other investigative resources. The council's subsequent advisory resolution (RL26-57 A) records council support for terminating the contract, but the administration's performance data or a formal mayoral response was not part of the meeting record.