Flock Safety tells North Bend council the city would own ALPR data, highlights 30-day retention and transparency portal

Sherika Ware Wilkins of Flock Safety told the North Bend City Council on June 22 that the company's automatic license-plate reader (ALPR) system is already used by thousands of public agencies and that local agencies own and control their data. "Data is 100% owned by the customer," Wilkins said, describing a system with 30-day data retention in Oregon and a public transparency portal that logs searches and who accessed them.

Why it matters: The presentation responded to earlier community concern about privacy and third-party access to plate-reading data. Wilkins emphasized there is no facial-recognition capability in the system, private clients do not have automatic access to city data, and federal requests would require a warrant and agency notification. She said the company can provide audit logs so the public can see when and why officers searched the system.

During questions, council members pressed on accuracy, operational procedure and oversight. Wilkins said notifications to officers include a photo of the vehicle and plate, and officers still perform a visual verification and call dispatch to confirm; she described ongoing training for patrol staff and a transparency portal that shows search reasons and a unique user ID for each query. On federal requests, she said Flock notifies the customer and requires special legal process before yielding data.

Council members also asked how the vendor separates one client's data from another's. Wilkins said the platform is geographically partitioned, uses authenticated accounts and multi-factor login controls, and that Flock can provide technical follow-up by a systems expert.

The city indicated staff will publish a robust Q&A on the police department's web page and that the council will continue public outreach. No contract vote occurred during the work session; staff indicated they will post the Q&A and continue responding to constituent questions.