Springfield police said a “brief activation” of a license-plate reader camera last week flagged a stolen vehicle despite their pledge to keep the cameras off.

In September, Chief Jami Resch said the newly installed cameras would not be activated for identifying vehicles until community discussion about their use. 

The department’s statement about the recent activation referred to technology company Flock Safety, the provider of the technology.

“Our review determined that the Flock system had identified the camera at 28th and Olympic as being offline and automatically generated a work order for a technician to repair it,” Springfield police said. “The technician completed the repair, which reactivated the camera.”

The camera reactivation took place Nov. 7, according to the police department’s statement, first reported by KVAL. 

“This was the only camera in Springfield still connected to the automated system that monitors and restores camera functionality,” Springfield police said.

While officers recovered the stolen vehicle, police said in the statement that they received notification Nov. 8 of the camera’s reactivation. The camera “has now been turned off again and removed from the automated quality check process.”

“Any data collected during this brief activation will be deleted and not retained,” Springfield police said. “We are sharing this information as part of our continued commitment to transparency with the community as discussions about ALPR technology continue.”