Post Falls mayor says city won’t install Flock cameras, calls it ‘spying’

POST FALLS Idaho – The mayor of Post Falls says he’s firmly opposed to the use of Flock cameras, calling it “spying” and “unconstitutional mass surveillance.”

Mayor Randy Westlund posted a letter about the issue on Facebook Friday, saying he’s received questions about his stance on the issue.

Westlund says the issue needs state-level reform.

“We do not and will not use Flock camera systems in Post Falls,” Westlund said. “I am firmly opposed to unconstitutional mass surveillance and the construction of large national databases which track the movement of citizens.”

Westlund goes on to explain the city uses “tightly-controlled” cameras that can read license plates. He also says the city collaborates with federal law enforcement. However, he says because the city owns those cameras, the data is not shared commercially.

“Every use is connected to an active case and access is regularly audited to prevent abuse. We do not and will not track movement of law-abiding residents; the system is configured for real-time notification against active wanted lists only.”

Westlund criticizes Idaho state law, which requires city’s to keep camera images for at least two years and, in some cases, forever. He says this opens the door to “a myriad of privacy concerns.”

“I call on our sates legislators to amend state law to prevent the construction of tracking databases by requiring this data to be deleted in 90 days,” Westlund writes.

“We are committed to enforcing the law without ever spying on citizens. Because good government is transparent, we will be publishing all our policies and procedures around our limited use of cameras in the coming days. Technology may be a tool, but never a crutch. We will never have a surveillance state in Post Falls.”

The use of Flock cameras has become controversial nationwide over concerns about privacy and the sharing of data.

The watchdog group DeFlock maps the use of the cameras nationwide and says there are more than 120,000 cameras and license plate readers in use across the country.

Clearwater County, Idaho said this week it will stop using the cameras after nine months. The sheriff said, in part, “The system has not demonstrated sufficient operational value to justify its continued cost based on the needs of our office and our community.”