Council hears Flock Safety presentation as residents raise privacy, hacking concerns

Bia Campbell, a representative for the Flock Safety system, presented a PowerPoint on the company’s license-plate reader technology and fielded questions from council members and the police chief. Vice Mayor Mashburn asked whether neighboring cities would have access; Campbell said neighboring agencies must request access each time and that a record is created when the system is accessed.

Councilman Turman pressed whether Flock could access the city’s live feed and whether live streaming could be hacked. Campbell said Flock no longer conducts live demonstrations and uses mocked data for presentations, and acknowledged a potential hacking risk while noting that only “80 cameras out of 600,000 have experienced hardware issues.” Police Chief Leavitt described proposed camera locations and answered technical questions about deployment.

Several members of the public raised privacy and security concerns. Tom Broeder asked whether safeguards would prevent hacking and expressed privacy worries; Boone Johnson said he supported cameras if they remain in public spaces. Campbell emphasized that "license plate readers capture license plates only and that the State of Nebraska has strong LPR policies in place to protect councils, police departments, and citizens." Mayor McGhehey and council members did not vote on the presentation; it served as information for future policy discussion.