Eugene police Friday, Dec. 19, announced city staff have taken down license-plate reader cameras rather than wait more than a month for removal by the company that installed them, Atlanta-based Flock Safety.

“City staff began removing the cameras on December 18. To date, 55 out of 57 cameras have been successfully disconnected and secured,” police said in a statement.

The other two are scheduled for removal next week, with solar panels that power the cameras to remain until their removal by Flock Safety, police said.

Despite a contract termination notice that former City Manager Sarah Medary said requested removal of the cameras by Dec. 12, police said Flock Safety did not intend to begin taking down the equipment until Jan. 26.

Eugene police Dec. 5 announced an end to a partnership with Flock Safety that began earlier this year but by that time already had grown shaky.

A unanimous city council vote Oct. 8 led to a pause on use of the pole-mounted cameras in place at various street intersections.

The vote followed public outcry as citizens expressed concerns about how Flock Safety’s data collection could lead to the targeting of vulnerable groups, despite police leaders and the Atlanta-based company’s assurances that the data collected by the cameras fell solely to the Eugene Police Department.

Eugene Police Chief Chris Skinner said after the Dec. 5 cancellation that Flock Safety reactivated a camera that had been paused. He said a community member alerted police to how an online portal for the Eugene cameras listed a number of license plates scanned when the cameras should have been off.

A Flock spokesperson told Lookout Eugene-Springfield that a maintenance request sent out automatically because of damage to equipment led to the reactivation, but Skinner expressed disappointment that the company did not keep the cameras off as requested.

Nevertheless, Skinner has voiced strong support for the underlying technology that captures license plate information from passing vehicles, then alerts police when a stolen car or vehicle linked to a crime passes by.

State grant money to fight organized retail theft paid for what was to be a two-year, $342,000 contract, and Skinner has said that he would consider another proposal for use of the technology.