TWIN FALLS, Idaho — Twin Falls Mayor Jason Brown says the city's contract with Flock camera systems could still be modified or eliminated following a standing-room-only City Council meeting July 27, where dozens of neighbors voiced concerns about what they called warrantless surveillance.
"There's absolutely opportunities to modify the contract, to eliminate the contract, and try to find other ways to police our city," Brown said.
WATCH: Twin Falls mayor responds to standing-room-only Flock meeting
Dozens of neighbors testified at the July 27 City Council meeting, many urging the city to end its relationship with the automated license plate reader system.
"Driving to work, taking child to school, attending church, visiting a doctor or seeking community support should not be creating a record that could be searched and shared. Public safety should make people feel safer, not watched," one neighbor said.
"The data is illegal to collect on everybody all the time without a search. And when they lose control of that data, who knows where it goes," another neighbor said.
Brown was serving his first term on the City Council when the Twin Falls Police Department first requested funding for 12 Flock cameras in its 2023 budget request.
He said the process has been public, but growing sentiment in the community and across the nation is bringing more attention to the systems.
"I believe that this does allow us to help keep our city safe. Obviously there's concern that was addressed last night by the citizens, and we appreciate that," Brown said.
"This is something that we've been monitoring pretty heavily on social media and getting feedback. I think last night was indicative of our governmental process. This is how it's supposed to work," Brown said.
Lt. Steven Gassert said the police department had also been listening. Even before the July 27 City Council meeting, the department was prepared to make changes to its Flock contracts.
On July 27, officials announced they would opt out of a national lookup package, revoke Flock's permission to use Twin Falls data for training purposes and drop an $88,000 real-time video product from its fiscal year 2027 budget request.
"That came from the feedback that we had gotten from the community. We respect the information and opinions of the community members. We know last night was just the start of the conversation and we continue to look forward to having more conversation with community members and stakeholders," Gassert said.
As a gesture of transparency, the Twin Falls Police Department has posted all of its contracts with Flock to its website, along with descriptions of which products it subscribes to, how they are used and how they are not used.
Brown said more discussion is ahead.
"Ultimately, there's more discussion to be coming as we continue that budget process," Brown said.
The conversation over Flock cameras will continue through the budget process, with final recommendations scheduled for a public hearing and adoption Aug. 24.
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