Residents blast police use of license-plate recognition cameras

A previous version of this story incorrectly stated what would be included in an online license-plater reader “transparence portal.” Eugene Police Capt. Jake Burke said the site would include “prohibited uses, such as immigration enforcement, traffic enforcement (and) harassment.”

More than 15 comments denouncing the installation of license-plate recognition cameras followed a vote July 10 by the city’s Police Commission to delay a decision on recommending a proposed policy for using the technology.

The commission, a citizens’ advisory group, does not grant authorization, but instead reviews policy — generated by police —  and provides recommendations to the city’s police chief, city council and city manager.

“It’s not safe for a lot of people in this room to be surveilled constantly,” Naphtali Renshaw, who said she works as a faith leader at United Methodist Church, told the commission.

Some who spoke shared personal concerns about being targeted by federal authorities, noting, for example, actions by the administration of President Donald Trump considered hostile to the transgender community.

The police department has a contract with Flock Safety to install 57 license plate recognition cameras to help solve and reduce crime in Eugene, a police spokeswoman has said. The camera system is designed to capture images of rear license plates and vehicle characteristics, as well as provide “real-time alerts” to police.

Before the public comment period, a police captain, Jake Burke, spoke of contractual safeguards and how data is stored for only 30 days unless retained as evidence in a criminal investigation.

But among those commenting, a common refrain was anger at how police decided to install the cameras before sharing their plans with the community. Others said the technology lacked security given the involvement of a private company, Flock Safety, in collecting the data.

Jacob Griffin identified himself as a transgender man who’s a member of the advocacy group Trans Alliance of Lane County. Griffin said that because he takes testosterone, he must register with the federal government.

“Every day in order to maintain the body that keeps me alive, I take testosterone, a Schedule III drug,” Griffin said, referring to a federal classification for controlled substances. “I am required by the federal government to register as a user of that drug.”

Griffin spoke of concerns with the Trump administration and disappointment in the police commission.

“You’re our local guardrail, and you are bending,” Griffin said.

Others also expressed disappointment at the discussion among commissioners before the public comment section.

While the board voted to delay its recommendation in part to hear the number of commenters — multiple commissioners noted that they had not previously seen such a large crowd at one of their meetings, with about 25 in attendance — commissioners mostly discussed relatively minor points within the proposed policy.

In contrast, those who signed up to speak spoke harshly against the decision to use the technology at all.

“The EPD gets to choose which tools it puts in its box,” Alan Leiman, a commissioner, said as part of closing comments by commissioners following the public comments. 

Leiman said it’s the commission’s responsibility to focus on policy recommendations. He did critique the police decision to not share plans with the commission that it was moving forward with the cameras.

“That was really, really disappointing,” Leiman said.

Before the public comments, Burke said that the system is designed to capture license plate information — “almost all the time, it’s just the license plate of the vehicle,” he said, explaining that should someone look out the rear window of a vehicle, their image may be captured.

Eugene police have said they already have used the cameras successfully to identify murder suspects in connection with a double-homicide investigation as well as just this week arresting a man wanted on a murder warrant from Wisconsin.

Burke told commissioners that the department opted to be part of a standing network where data is shared only with Oregon law enforcement agencies to better comply with the state’s sanctuary law, which generally limits state and local law enforcement agencies from assisting with enforcement of immigration laws.

Should there be such a request to Flock Safety from an agency enforcing immigration, “they would be required then to have their legal team send it to our legal team to process,” Burke said.

Burke, filling in for an out-of-town Chief Chris Skinner, said the department is developing a “transparency portal” on the department’s website, stating prohibited uses of the cameras, for example. 

The department is paying for the cameras using money from a $391,000 grant from the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission to fight retail theft, Burke said, adding that the current contract is for two years.

Another speaker, Bailey Gilmore, cited the grant in describing the police as withholding information from the public about their plans.

“No public hearing was held, and no community input was solicited, even after the contract was signed and surveillance began,” Gilmore said. “Surveilling the total population of Eugene without our knowledge, let alone consent, is an extraordinary act. Certainly it demonstrates that EPD is uninterested in building trust between the community and the police.”

The commission tabled a vote until its next scheduled meeting in September.

ICE demonstrations

While most of the approximately 21 speakers talked about the license-plate cameras, some used their allotted two minutes of speaking time to express concerns about the Eugene Police Department’s activities during recent street demonstrations outside the downtown federal building.

Police did not move or disperse crowds gathered at the events and now have a new command directive outlining a generally hands-off approach. But some speakers Thursday said that Eugene police effectively worked with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement by responding to a complaint that protesters had blocked a parking lot exit at the building.

Burke said that about 50 complaints had been filed with the city’s police auditor.

“We welcome any kind of scrutiny … for accountability purposes, because we want to be transparent in what we did,” Burke said.

Lindsey Foltz, the city’s interim police auditor, said that the auditor’s website will provide updates on the review of the complaints, and that an Internal Affairs investigation has begun.

“It’s not a fast process, and I know that that can be unsatisfying, but it is thorough, and it is built to be thorough and careful,” Foltz said.