No immediate pause for Flock cameras, Eugene police chief says

Pausing use of the city’s 57 license-plate recognition cameras is “not as easy as just flipping a light switch,” Eugene Police Chief Chris Skinner said Friday, Oct. 10.

The cameras remain on despite a city council recommendation made during a work session Wednesday, Oct. 8, to temporarily stop their use pending further community discussion.

After the vote, an active police investigation into a burglary ring targeting Asian American households factored into his discussions with City Manager Sarah Medary, Skinner said Friday. The council’s unanimous vote Wednesday leaves the decision to Medary about implementing a pause.

Skinner said he told Medary after the council vote about “the importance of not being too quick to pause them” pending the burglary investigation. He spoke Friday at a news conference announcing the arrests of seven suspects, calling the license-plate readers a key part of the investigation. 

“I will be reconvening with her on Monday to see about a path forward,” Skinner said.

Elle O’Casey, the director of communications in the city manager’s office, said via email that she didn’t yet know when the city manager might announce next steps about the cameras, though she’s hoping to get more clarity on Monday or Tuesday.

Asked for his reaction to the vote, Skinner spoke about his role within the city.

“I understand and appreciate council’s opinion and their authority in this matter, and they’re going to set policy for this city, and it’s my job to try and do the very best I can with the policy that they set,” Skinner said.

In the Oct. 8 work session, Skinner voiced his views about why the cameras are good for Eugene, and he did so again on Friday.

“What I’m asked to do is be hired to actually bring the best operational strategy to combat crime in our community,” Skinner said. “We have to leverage technology. I mean, with our constrained human resources and constrained financial resources, technology is going to be the force multiplier that we take into consideration.”

The department installed the first cameras in May without seeking council approval or seeking community input, using state grant funding.

But a groundswell of opposition this summer cited concerns about data collected by the cameras being used to target vulnerable communities.

Skinner noted that the council recommended a pause, not for the cameras to be taken down for good.

“Anytime you’re still having conversations is a good thing, and I’m happy to do that and lean into that,” Skinner said.

Practical considerations for a pause have to do with the company supplying the cameras, Flock Safety, Skinner said.

“We had to reach out, actually, to the company and see about the mechanics of that,” Skinner said. Pausing use of the cameras “could take 24 to 48 hours for us to be able to do that.”

“And depending on what path we go down, there are some other potential contractual implications,” Skinner said.

The contract between Flock Safety and the city of Eugene allows the parties to end their agreement at any time, as long as they both provide written consent to do so.

The city can end the contract immediately and without prior notice if Flock fails to keep required insurance, violates city “security requirements,” loses or fails to maintain necessary licenses or certifications, or “for any reason considered by the City to be in the public interest,” the contract states.

Those reasons could include a lack of funds, unavailability of necessary materials, natural disasters, executive orders related to national defense, federal or state law changes, Flock’s inability to complete contracted work for unforeseeable reasons, and other conditions that make it “impracticable within a reasonable time to complete the work.”

If the city terminates the contract, it  has to pay Flock only for the work that was finished before the termination date. For any work that’s only partly completed, the city and Flock can mutually agree on an appropriate payment amount. 

The contract also specifies that Flock cannot seek payment for any loss of anticipated profits after termination.

When the contract ends, Flock must remove its cameras and other equipment at a “commercially reasonable time,” as agreed upon by both parties, the agreement states.

Grace Chinowsky, Lookout Eugene-Springfield’s city government correspondent, contributed to this report.