Overview
- City leaders covered all 12 Flock license‑plate cameras and prepared a council vote to cancel the contract and pay off the vendor after heavy community pushback.
- Residents at a May town hall and subsequent public testimony cited privacy worries and specific fears that federal enforcement actions in the city could lead to outside access to the data.
- Columbia Heights police said sharing camera data for immigration enforcement is prohibited under local practice, while officials still acknowledge the tool has been used to solve crimes.
- Flock defended its system as aiding investigations and locating missing people, citing company statistics, even as critics question the transparency of data sharing and measurable evidence of effectiveness.
- The move follows wider scrutiny of Flock nationwide after published audit logs and other cities' contract pauses, which could prompt more municipalities to tighten rules or drop vendor‑operated plate‑reading networks.