The Eugene Police Department signed a contract with safety network company Flock Safety to install 57 license plate detecting cameras in Eugene to “combat rising crime rates” according to Captain Jake Burke, manager of EPD’s Investigation’s Division. The implementation of the cameras have caused public outcry over privacy concerns and possible collaboration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The new cameras capture and save license plate numbers, and will alert officers when a vehicle involved in an unsolved crime is detected. The goal of the LPRs, license plate recognition, is to reduce organized retail theft and assist in more serious crimes.

LPRs are tools of evidence utilized by police departments across the country, but EPD has only recently acquired them through a grant received from the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission.

Burke spoke on the department’s intentions with LPR technology, saying the cameras will decrease crime rates despite low staffing levels. 

“We feel like we could leverage that technology to help keep our community safe and bring resolutions to cases,” Burke said. “The grant offered an opportunity to help pay for this technology without having to use the general funds.”

Kamryn Stringfield, a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation in Eugene, was dissatisfied with the EPD’s lack of transparency. “They got this grant last year around July, so they had months and months to solicit public comment, and they never did that. They made the unilateral decision to sign this contract with Flock and implement it without even going to the Police Commission.”

The issue of privacy violations and the lack of communication by EPD prior to the cameras being set up caused backlash during the Police Commission meeting on July 10. Multiple commissioners on the board questioned residents that were concerned by the monitoring, noting that the surveillance of the LPRs was “no different than carrying a cell phone in your pocket.”

“We have a choice to carry a smartphone and to give our information away to private companies as we see fit or not. This is the government. I don’t have that choice,” Pete Goldlust, a community member who spoke during the meeting’s public comment portion, said. “It’s not just collecting the license number of the person that’s speeding through and causing a safety issue, it’s everyone else having their information taken.”

Police departments in multiple states that use LPRs from Flock Safety have had issues with officers sharing information gained through the cameras to other departments, as well as federal agencies. California police departments were recently caught skirting surveillance laws and regulations, and Texas officers were confirmed to have searched through Illinois LPRs to find a woman who fled the state after a self-administered abortion. Eugene residents are worried that similar incidents will happen within the EPD.

“We control who we share and don’t share with,” Burke said in response to these concerns. “We’ve narrowed down our sharing network to just Oregon law enforcement agencies because they follow the same sanctuary laws and requirements that EPD does, and so we felt that was the safest so that it didn’t network further than Oregon agencies.”

Residents are not only concerned about the general surveillance of citizens, but also the danger it poses to minorities that are increasingly becoming scrutinized by the federal government. 

Stringfield is worried about the impact on immigrants, despite Oregon sanctuary laws preventing EPD and other Oregon law enforcement agencies from using their resources to assist in enforcing federal immigration laws.

“What we’ve been seeing across the country is that ICE can make informal requests, sometimes not even from Immigration and Customs Enforcement itself, but through other agencies, or even through private institutions,” Stringfield said. “There’s just so many ways in which the system is unregulated and can be hacked.”

Burke said that oversight from the Police Commission, the Independent Police Auditor and the Civilian Review Board would ensure the protection of data.

Interim Police Auditory Lindsey Foltz confirmed that the department is currently processing multiple complaints regarding LPRs. “We’re systematically going through and reviewing the documents we feel are necessary to review for the complaints that have come in so far about flock cameras, (but) we’re still in the middle of all of this. It has not in any way been resolved, and I expect that it will be ongoing for some time.”

While EPD continues to set up cameras on the main streets of the city over the next few months, residents who attended the commission meeting have emphasized they are refusing to give up their resistance.

“If these cameras are going to be around, then we want to see more measures taken to make sure they’re secure and that there’s policies in place for them. But ultimately, we don’t want another mass surveillance system in Eugene,” Stringfield said.