UWPD Drops Flock, Promises Public Input on What’s Next

A university police department has ended its contract with Flock Safety and says it will seek community input before choosing a new automated license plate reader (ALPR) vendor. It’s a small but telling development in the ongoing national debate over how much surveillance infrastructure police departments should deploy without public sign-off.

Why this matters

Most people don’t realize that when they drive through certain intersections, a camera may be photographing their license plate, location, timestamp, and sometimes vehicle details like make, color, and dents. That data gets stored, searched, and in many cases shared across agencies and jurisdictions. Decisions about which company runs that system, how long the data is kept, and who can access it are usually made by a police department or campus administration with little to no public debate. When a department actually commits to community input before signing a new contract, that’s notable, because it doesn’t happen often.

What we actually know

Based on what’s been reported, UWPD has ended its Flock Safety agreement and plans to involve the community in selecting a replacement vendor. The reporting doesn’t specify why the contract ended, what alternative vendors are being considered, or what the input process will look like. We’re not going to speculate beyond that. What matters here is the precedent: a law enforcement agency acknowledging that surveillance technology decisions shouldn’t happen behind closed doors.

The bigger picture

ALPR systems like Flock Safety’s have spread rapidly across the country, often installed with minimal public hearings, vague retention policies, and little independent auditing. Once a network is in place, plates get logged whether or not the driver is suspected of anything. That data can sit in a database for days, weeks, or longer, depending on the vendor and the agency’s policy, and it can potentially be queried by other departments through data-sharing agreements. Community input, when it’s genuine, is one of the only checks that exists before these systems get built out further.

What you can do

If you live near a campus or city considering a new ALPR vendor, ask if there’s a public comment period and show up. Ask direct questions: How long is data retained? Who can access it? Is there an independent audit? You can check whether ALPR cameras already operate near you using our interactive map, and learn more about how these systems work on our learn page. If your local government is weighing a similar decision, our take action page has resources for making your voice heard before the contract is signed, not after.

Source: WKOW