The Eugene Police Department has announced the termination of their contract with Flock Safety after finding weaknesses within the company’s automated license plate readers.
The announcement said in part, “The department has identified vulnerabilities and limitations that raise concerns about the system’s ability to meet EPD’s operational needs, data security and community expectations.”
EPD acknowledged the value of ALPRs in their ability to aid investigations, but wrote that “any vendors meet the highest standards for safeguards surrounding privacy, data security and system reliability.”
After evaluation and internal discussion within the police department, the decision was made to terminate the contract.
City Manager Sarah Medary signed a contract with Flock Safety, a security company that specializes in ALPRs, in March 2024, causing months of uproar from Eugene residents and organizations like Eyes Off Eugene and the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
Since March, city council public comments have been full of residents urging councillors, the EPD and Medary to evaluate their contract with Flock Safety, due to concerns regarding privacy and surveillance from the city.
Due to public concerns, the city council unanimously voted in October to recommend that Medary pause the cameras until a later work session, where they would discuss the issue further. Medary paused the ALPRs on Oct. 13.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit against the city of Eugene on Oct. 20 on behalf of Seth May, a member of Eyes Off Eugene, for not accepting a public records request for locations of all the ALPRs in the city. On Nov. 7, the EPD released a map with the location of each ALPR in the city.
