POST FALL, Idaho. — Randy Westlund, the Post Falls Mayor put out a statement about his stance on Flock cameras and why Post Falls doesn’t and won’t use Flock Cameras.
The statement was put out on Facebook and reads:
“With the recent concerns about Flock cameras, I’d like to clarify the City’s position.
We do not and will not use Flock camera systems in Post Falls. I am firmly opposed to unconstitutional mass surveillance and the construction of large national databases which track the movement of citizens.
We do have a limited and tightly controlled use of Motorola cameras that read license plates and check against the NCIC wanted list. We use these in cases like stolen vehicles, abducted children, and vehicles associated with active warrants. We do collaborate with federal law enforcement, including ICE. We own the cameras and the data, which is never 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.
Idaho state law currently requires all cities to keep these images for a minimum of two years and some jurisdictions keep them forever. I believe this is wrong, and opens the door to a myriad 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.
This is a glaring flaw in our state code which must be addressed ASAP. Please allow us to enforce the law while protecting the privacy of our residents.
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.”
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