July 14, 2025 · Springdale Police & Fire Committee

The sales meeting.

Eight days before the council voted, a Flock Safety representative sat in a committee room and answered questions. These are his words, and the words of city officials in the same room, taken from the recording — and, where one exists, the document that speaks to the same subject.

#1 Accuracy

Said in the room

“What percentage of the cars are you able to read that pass by these cameras?”

“A hundred percent.”

Question: a city council member. Answer: Jordan, Flock Safety representative.

Part 1, (17:33)–(17:38) · A council member asked what share of passing vehicles the cameras capture.

What the document says

Except as provided under subsection (b) of this section, captured plate data obtained for the purposes described under § 12-12-1803(b) shall not be used or shared for any other purpose…

Ark. Code Ann. § 12-12-1804(a)

Purpose limits attach to every read, not only to the reads that match a hot list. Springdale Policy 10.14 governs LPR queries — not the capture itself.

The written question

What happens to the reads that match nothing — every use, every recipient, every retention path, in writing?

#2 Pre-contract use

Said in the room

“I mean, we've already helped with two cases and we don't have any software or devices in Springdale today.”

Jordan, Flock Safety representative

Part 1, (19:33)–(19:38) · Answering a question about the system's usefulness, before the council had voted.

What the document says

The council vote was July 22, 2025. The contract term commences at first camera validation.

Order Form, July 22, 2025 packet

No trial agreement, terms of access, or authorization appears in the council packet.

The written question

Produce the agreement, trial terms, or authorization governing the department's pre-contract use of the network, with dates.

#3 Pre-contract use

Said in the room

“So we don't have the cameras in Springdale, but they were able to give us access as a trial on the software side of things.”

Chief Derek Wright

Part 2, (22:17)–(22:21) · Direct answer to a council member who had noticed the discrepancy and asked how the department had been using the system before purchasing it.

What the document says

Same as above — nothing in the packet governs the trial access.

July 22, 2025 packet

The written question

Under whose data terms did that access operate, and what happened to anything retrieved during it?

#4 Data ownership

Said in the room

“So Springdale owns all the data, so whatever data that you guys collect on these devices, it's your guys's, it automatically gets deleted in 30 days.”

“On the cloud, yeah.”

Jordan, Flock Safety representative — both lines

Twenty minutes apart, same meeting · The ownership assurance, and — twenty minutes later — the answer to where the data is stored. Nobody in the room put the two together.

What the document says

The City owns its data, and grants Flock an irrevocable, worldwide license to it.

Master Services Agreement § 4.1; § 2.1 provides for third-party cloud hosting.

Ownership and control are different words. The agreement uses both, and they do different work.

The written question

Identify the physical location and the hosting provider of the data, and the provision under which the City may compel its deletion from that provider.

#5 Data ownership

Said in the room

“…there's no individual data associated with these at all, so no personal data, just vehicle descriptors and we try to make this as transparent as possible.”

Jordan, Flock Safety representative

Part 1, (14:25)–(14:30) · Offered unprompted, as the privacy reassurance of the meeting.

What the document says

"Captured plate data" means the global positioning device coordinates, date and time, photograph, license plate number, and any other data captured by or derived from any automatic license plate reader system;

Ark. Code Ann. § 12-12-1802(3)(A)

A plate is registered to a person. Reads joined across cameras and dates are a movement history. § 12-12-1802(3)(B) says captured plate data "shall not include any personal data" — and "personal data" is not defined anywhere in the subchapter.

The written question

State every attribute searchable in the system, including person-related attributes, and which statute or written policy governs each.

#6 Traffic analytics

Said in the room

“For you guys specifically it's gonna be able to give you guys detailed reads of who is coming into Springdale. So traffic counts, where are they from, you know, when's the busiest time of day, month, year and then are they coming from in town, out of town”

Jordan, Flock Safety representative

Part 1, (8:19)–(8:30) · Offered as an additional benefit of the purchase.

What the document says

An automatic license plate reader system may be used: (1) By a state, county, or municipal law enforcement agency for the comparison of captured plate data with data held by [five named sources]…

Ark. Code Ann. § 12-12-1803(b)(1). The Order Form includes Traffic Analytics.

"Who is coming into Springdale" is a population-level statement, and it sits in the same meeting as "no individual data associated with these at all."

The written question

Is Traffic Analytics enabled on Springdale plate data? Identify the statutory exception under which it operates.

#7 Litigation

Said in the room

“But I'm not aware of any litigation that's happened towards [Flock]. Like I've said, we've really built this with privacy in mind. And all we're really doing is collecting pictures of cars rather than, it's not taking any facial recognition or some of those things that people typically get scared about.”

Jordan, Flock Safety representative

Part 1, (17:12)–(17:30) · Answering a council member's direct due-diligence question about legal exposure.

What the document says

As of July 14, 2025, a challenge to a city's use of the system had been pending in federal court since October 2024, and a state judge had suppressed evidence from the system in May 2024.

Court records — see Resources.

Both cases were brought against cities using the system, not against the vendor itself. The council member's question was about legal exposure.

The written question

What due diligence did the City perform on the vendor's litigation history before the July 22, 2025 vote?

#8 AI and search

Said in the room

“But when you say bring them together, you mean where you can see them, not necessarily as using the AI functions that you're using on your camera to actually go through the other, they're not coming up with any conclusions based on that. It's just for the officers to be able to use, is that right?”

“That is correct.”

Question: a council member. Answer: Jordan, Flock Safety representative.

Later in the same meeting · The only moment in the meeting when anyone asked whether the vendor's analytics run on the City's own integrated camera feeds.

What the document says

Ability to apply computer vision to third-party cameras using Flock Safety Wing LPR, transforming them to evidence capture devices using the same Vehicle Fingerprint technology offered on the Flock Safety Falcon ALPR cameras

Flock sole-source letter, in city council packets. The Order Form includes FreeForm — AI plain-language search across plate data and video.

The written question

Reconcile in writing: does any AI or computer-vision capability process integrated or gateway camera streams, and what is it capable of identifying?

#9 AI and search

Said in the room

“…and then the camera's smart enough to follow any movement, whether it's a car or a person, to gather that evidence.”

“And we'll be able to use the guardian mode from Flock to be able to track people as they move around the park.”

First line: Jordan, Flock Safety representative. Second line: the City's Chief of Staff.

Twenty minutes apart, two speakers · Two different speakers, in the same meeting, describing automated tracking of persons.

What the document says

…there's no individual data associated with these at all, so no personal data, just vehicle descriptors

Same meeting, file line 96.

The first line is corroborated identically by both independent transcription passes of the recording.

The written question

Identify every capability in the purchased system that detects, follows, or searches for people rather than vehicles, and the written policy governing each.

#10 Public notice

Said in the room

“For the citizens kind of up to you guys in terms of how transparent you guys are with that. But in terms of education, no.”

Jordan, Flock Safety representative

Part 1, (10:34)–(10:37) · Asked whether there is any public education or notification requirement.

What the document says

hardware and software safety products

The resolution as it appeared on the July 22, 2025 public agenda.

Public notice was presented as entirely discretionary. A transparency portal was offered as something the vendor "can even create" — also optional, and not a condition of the purchase.

The written question

What public notice did the City give before the vote, and what notice does it give now?

The full transcript and every document →