黑料福利社

Yakima City Council members are considering an ordinance that would place new restrictions on live Flock cameras in the community.

Flock is an Atlanta-based company that makes wireless cameras that scan license plates and identify vehicles based on their make, model, color and other identifying features, providing nearly real-time data on a car鈥檚 location through a searchable database. The technology has been praised by law enforcement as a tool for fighting crime, but some citizens have raised concerns about privacy and Fourth Amendment rights.

Earlier this year, the state Legislature passed , which prohibits automatic license plate readers like Flock cameras near abortion clinics, facilities conducting immigration matters, K-12 schools, places of worship, courts and food banks. The law also puts guardrails around who can use the cameras and for what purpose. Footage must be deleted after 21 days.

The law applies to the Yakima Police Department鈥檚 87 fixed Flock cameras, which capture still images of vehicles and their license plates within city limits. However, Mayor Matt Brown said at a council meeting on Tuesday that he doesn鈥檛 believe a similar law exists for live Flock cameras, which the city recently gave Yakima County a green light to install.

The county wants to install more than 200 live video cameras using $2 million in leftover American Rescue Plan Act dollars for a two-year pilot program. If the technology proves effective, it could become part of a proposed real-time information center that uses live footage and other analytic tools to provide real-time information to first responders. The live cameras don鈥檛 use facial recognition, but they can use artificial intelligence to recognize things like colors and articles of clothing.

Brown moved to direct city staff to prepare an ordinance in the next 90 days that would enact the state automatic license plate reader protection laws for all Flock cameras in the city. The motion also called for a companion resolution asking the Board of Yakima County Commissioners to adopt matching rules.

Some council members pushed back. Council members Rick Glenn, Juliet Potrykus and Patricia Byers, for example, all said they would be in favor of giving the police department a period of time to test the efficacy of the live cameras without any added restrictions.

鈥淚 trust the guy that we put in as chief of police, and I trust that he is going to use it in an appropriate manner and not abuse it, and I鈥檓 not ready to start putting more restrictions on it at this time,鈥� Glenn said.

Council member Felisa Gonzalez said she believed directing staff to prepare an ordinance would allow the council an opportunity to hear more from the police chief before taking a vote.

鈥淚 think moving forward with this motion would allow him the time and space to come and share any commentary he has with us,鈥� Gonzalez said.

The council voted in favor of the motion 5-2, with Potrykus and Glenn voting no. A date hasn't been set for the council to vote on the ordinance.

Contract renewal pushback

For the last several weeks, a group of Yakima residents has been urging the city to cut its ties with Flock and turn the cameras off. Despite those efforts, council members voted to renew a roughly $250,000 contract with the company in June.

The vote at the June 16 meeting had initially ended in a standstill, with Deputy Mayor Reedy Berg and council members Potrykus and Byers voting to renew the contract and Gonzalez, Brown and council member Leo Roy voting not to. Some council members expressed a desire to read the full contract and get more information before making a final decision. However, after learning that a lack of action could result in a lapse in service for the city鈥檚 Flock cameras, the council changed course.

At the end of the meeting, the council revisited the matter, and Brown and Roy voted in favor of the renewal.

On Tuesday, constituents made their displeasure with the decision known, several noting that the council switched its vote after most attendees had gone home.

鈥淭his council chose to spend nearly a quarter of a million dollars on expanding a system that records the movements of everyone in Yakima, at a time when people across this country are concerned about government overreach and the erosion of our constitutional rights,鈥� said Yakima resident Noemi Sanchez.

The council鈥檚 decision, Sanchez added, breaks down trust.

鈥淵ou guys are showing our citizens聽鈥� the people that live here聽鈥� that obviously you want the Flock cameras,鈥� Sanchez said, 鈥渂ecause you can鈥檛 be trusted to make the right decision without being watched either.鈥�