SPRINGFIELD – Springfield residents continue to raise concerns about the Springfield Police Department’s use of Flock cameras, and those concerns have only intensified after word spread that automated license plate recognition (ALPR) cameras had captured images of a stolen vehicle, even though the cameras were supposed to be inactive.
Flock is the largest public-private safety network that “unites communities, businesses, schools, and law enforcement to solve and deter crime,” according to the company’s website. Flock Safety sells a mass surveillance platform to local police agencies like the Eugene and Springfield Police Departments. Data from the solar-powered cameras is uploaded to systems managed by Flock Safety.
Springfield Police Chief Jami Resch led a conversation at the November Springfield City Club meeting about license plate reader cameras. At the meeting, Resch said she knew the cameras were off and that if they came on, she would know.
The next day, on Nov. 8, SPD released a statement saying they were alerted to a Flock camera near 28th and Olympic streets in Springfield that had detected a stolen vehicle.
“Since turning off our cameras, we have conducted random checks to ensure they remain inactive and are not collecting data,” according to the SPD release. “Upon receiving the alert, (SPD) immediately began investigating why this camera had been triggered. Our review determined that the Flock system had identified the camera at 28th and Olympic as being offline and automatically generated a work order for a technician to repair it. The technician completed the repair and reactivated the camera on Nov. 7.”
SPD stated that this was the only camera in Springfield still connected to the automated system that monitors and restores camera functionality. The camera has now been turned off again and removed from the computerized quality check process. Any data collected during this brief activation will be deleted and not retained.
“We are sharing this information as part of our continued commitment to transparency with the community, as discussions about ALPR technology continue. The stolen vehicle was subsequently recovered by officers,” according to the statement.
Citizens made their voices heard during the public comment section of a city council meeting on Nov. 17. Kamryn Stringfield, a Eugene resident who regularly visits Springfield, said the risks and costs of the technological system outweigh its benefits.
Stringfield, who is an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, said a primary concern is federal overreach.
“If we just take the data-sharing down to just being Springfield or just being Eugene or just being Lane County, then that will cut out any threat of federal overreach. But that’s not actually true,” Stringfield said at the city council meeting. “There’s always informal requests to officers. One rogue officer can give away data to ICE or DHS. There might be procedures for accountability, but it just takes one officer to put somebody’s life in serious jeopardy.”
Stringfield said the only real way to protect people would be not to collect the data in the first place. “There are ways to protect people, there are ways to solve crime. There are ways to keep Springfield a safe place for everybody to live and thrive that don’t require dragnet surveillance of everybody,” Stringfield said.
Back in October, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden released a statement that bashed Flock for failing to meet its pledge to protect Oregonians against immigration and abortion-related searches by out-of-state law enforcement agencies and for deceiving state and local law enforcement customers about its sharing of their data with the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies, according to the release.
“At the urging of concerned constituents, I conducted further oversight and have determined that Flock cannot live up to its commitment to protect the privacy and security of Oregonians. Abuse of Flock cameras is inevitable, and Flock has made it clear it takes no responsibility to prevent or detect that,” Wyden wrote in a letter to Flock Chief Executive Officer Garrett Langley.
In the release from Sen. Wyden, it stated that Flock revealed that it does not proactively audit how its cameras are used, how data is searched, or whether agencies are complying with requirements to state valid reasons for searching its database.
“In my view, local elected officials can best protect their constituents from the inevitable abuses of Flock cameras by removing Flock from their communities,” Wyden said.
SPD officials say that Flock cameras increase public safety and are a net benefit to police work.
During the City Club meeting, Resch explained the difference between shoplifting and organized retail theft and emphasized Springfield’s location on the I-5 corridor as a contributing factor for the implementation of the ALPR cameras.
“The cameras are more because people come into our city, and they take things, and they leave, and then they’re on to the next city. Or they come from Portland, and they head down here, or they come from Medford, and they head this way,” Resch said. “It’s not something where we’re going to be able to find their cars in our city all the time, and having the ability to take photos of those cars is sometimes very beneficial.”
Chief Resch also explained that after the cameras capture an image, a law enforcement officer must use their credentials to access a separate system for more information. She said law enforcement officers use the information in accordance with the policies and procedures in place.
“We’re going to continue to have conversations, and we’re going to see if we can design our program in a way that people feel comfortable with and that they are certain that the information that we have is being stored securely and it’s being used appropriately,” Resch said.
