Four new Flock cameras aren't hitting the streets of Tiverton quite yet.
On Aug. 18, Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee called for a statewide pause on new automated license plate reader cameras and ordered a 60-day review to create new statewide standards on the technology.
"Public safety and personal privacy are not mutually exclusive. Rhode Island needs clear and consistent rules of the road for this technology," he wrote in a press release.
The governor can't force cities and towns to stop installing the cameras. But at an Aug. 24 meeting of the Tiverton Town Council, local officials followed McKee's lead.
"I think it would be wise just to follow what the state has asked us to do," said Council President John G. Edwards.
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As of Aug. 28, the contract for four new cameras approved by councilors on July 27 has not been signed. The two cameras already operated by Tiverton police are still up and running, Deputy Chief Michael Miguel confirmed to The Herald News.
The Rhode Island State Police also has two Flock cameras in Tiverton. State police cameras "may continue to operate," according to McKee's proclamation.
Automated license plate reader cameras have recently come under intense public scrutiny, with local governments across Massachusetts and Rhode Island canceling contracts with their providers. Though courts have found them to be legal, the cameras that automatically log passing license plates have raised privacy and surveillance concerns; in New Bedford, an officer is accused of misusing the camera system to stalk an ex-girlfriend. Police — including in Fall River, home to over 40 cameras made by Flock Safety — say they make investigations more efficient.
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McKee wrote the state is "taking action now to pause further expansion, examine how these systems are being used across the state, and put strong, uniform safeguards in place to protect both public safety and personal privacy."
Only the state Legislature can make municipalities change the way they use Flock cameras. So Tiverton Town Solicitor Michael Marcello — the town's attorney — expects McKee's safeguards to take the form of guidance or "best practices."
"I think solicitors across the state would like to get some state guidance on some of this," Marcello said.
He said he'd gone "back and forth" with Flock for a couple weeks and was "pretty close" to finalizing a contract before the state's request for a pause. He said he convinced Flock representatives to include a clause allowing Tiverton to back out of the agreement in case of a data breach.
If new state guidelines make their way into Tiverton's contract, it wouldn't necessarily go back to councilors for another vote: the council's July 27 vote pre-approved a new contract with Flock subject to Marcello's review, giving him leeway to decide what's acceptable to the town. Councilors had not read any draft contracts when they took that vote.
That 3-1 vote took place while three councilors were absent.
"I am concerned that this item had been put back on an agenda when most of the council was not here and it was known that they could not be here, especially council members who had expressed concerns about it previously. It was not something that we had to jump at right away," said Councilor Michael Berk, who'd been absent during the vote.
Edwards, the council president, said the July 27 vote happened while councilors were absent because the town's old contract for its two existing Flock cameras had expired.
But that hasn't kept them from operating: the two original cameras are on the same pending contract as the four new ones. Marcello told The Herald News that, as far as he can tell, Flock is letting the two original cameras continue operating under their original, expired contract during renewal negotiations. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
If Tiverton ends up signing its Flock contract not too long after the 60-day pause, it could outlast changes to state law.
The Rhode Island General Assembly isn't back in session until January. Then, it could write laws governing how municipalities use Flock cameras.
But as a matter of legal principle, Marcello said, state laws generally don't undo municipal contracts unless the laws are written retroactively, specifying a past time frame they apply to.
"That contract's already in place. So you have to wait until the expiration of the old contract to make sure you incorporate the new law," he said, speaking hypothetically.
Between Tiverton's approval of new Flock cameras and McKee's proclamation, Flock Safety updated its policies, reducing its data retention period from 30 days to seven, requiring audits to weed out frequent searches, and introducing required case numbers for searches and multi-factor authentication.
This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Tiverton delays new Flock cameras after gov. calls for statewide pause