Residents urge council to cancel meeting with surveillance vendor Flock

Three Shoreline residents used the public-comment period on April 13 to urge caution about a planned April 27 meeting between city police and representatives of Flock, a private surveillance vendor, and to question recent policing spending.

Nicole Solano, who identified herself as a Shoreline resident, asked the council to cancel the dinner meeting with Flock and two Shoreline Police Department members. "If you are even considering Flock at all, there's a lot of community members that are very, very afraid that you're even having this meeting with Flock and a representative from Flock," she said, adding that many communities have banned the company.

Robert Steele, also a Shoreline resident, echoed opposition to Flock and criticized prioritization of police funding. "I learned last week that the city of Shoreline spends about $180,000 a year directly on homelessness programs. I also read in that study that we are increasing the police budget by 3 and a half million dollars per year," he said, questioning whether those allocations matched community priorities.

Latham (Lathan) Wayne described local volunteer work picking up litter and urged council attention to neighborhood cleanliness.

Councilmembers did not immediately change the scheduled meeting; public commenters' assertions about Flock and the precise budget figures were not verified during the meeting.