BARTLESVILLE, Okla. — The debate over flock cameras continues in Bartlesville as the city council weighs public safety against privacy concerns.

On Monday, city council members presented different proposals for regulating the license plate readers. Council members Tim Sherrick, Ward One, and Aaron Kirkpatrick, Ward Four, have become leading voices on the hot topic.

Sherrick’s Resolution Proposal

Sherrick said he is against the city using flock cameras. He is pushing for a special election to amend the charter. In his proposal, he wants to add section 18, which bans the use of automatic license plate recognition cameras and their database within the city.

Section 18 reads, “The City of Bartlesville and all its subdivisions, departments, and agencies shall not be allowed to use Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) cameras or their proprietary database systems within the City of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, neither shall they be allowed to contract service for the delivery of data gained by another entity’s use of said cameras or their proprietary database systems. Only cameras deployed by the City of Bartlesville for the exclusive purpose of parking enforcement and the continuing use by local law enforcement of the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (OLETS) databases in compliance with currently established regulations would be exempted.”

Sherrick said the section addresses city leader concerns.

“I’ve crafted language with the city manager and the chief of police addressing their concerns,” Sherrick said.

He said if approved by city council, it would go to a special election ballot.

“This would go to vote of the people and they would get to decide if they want to restrict their city from using the flock surveillance systems,” Sherrick said. “This is making the voice of the people the loudest voice in the room.”

According to Sherrick’s resolution, the ballot question would be to added to Section 18:

EXHIBIT B

SUMMARY OF CHANGES FOR PROPOSED BALLOT

Proposition 1. Shall Article 16 of the Charter of the City of Bartlesville be amended to add Section 18 that states, “The City of Bartlesville and all its subdivisions, departments, and agencies shall not be allowed to use Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) cameras or their proprietary database systems within the City of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, neither shall they be allowed to contract service for the delivery of data gained by another entity’s use of said cameras or their proprietary database systems. Only cameras deployed by the City of Bartlesville for the exclusive purpose of parking enforcement and the continuing use by local law enforcement of the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (OLETS) databases in compliance with currently established regulations would be exempted.”

Kirkpatrick Ordinance Proposal

Continuing the debate, Kirkpatrick is proposing to have guidelines while the city uses the license plate readers.

“It can be both, and if the citizens end up voting on this in Bartlesville, that is a process that takes months, so I think that it’s important to have good regulations starting immediately,” Kirkpatrick said.

He said one of the guidelines would be where the cameras can be.

“I proposed 500 feet within Bartlesville city limits,” he said. “That allows our law enforcement to take pictures of the license plates on vehicles on cars coming in or leaving Bartlesville.”

He said after city council’s February 24th Flock Camera Workshop, he independently met with Bartlesville Police Department. If you’d like to read his full letter on intent, go to page 475 of April’s City Council meeting packet.

In response to Kirkpatrick’s proposal, City Council member Larry East, Ward Two, asked for amendments to the proposed ordinance.

According to the April city council meeting packet, those can be summarized as:

• Reduce the number of authorized cameras from 10 to 8 or the minimum number required for full query access to the system, whichever is less.
• No additional cameras may be installed without Council approval.
• Audit reports shall include a list of all individuals who have direct access to the system, along with their titles and justification for access.
• Reduce the data retention time from 30 days to 7 days or the minimum allowed by the ALPR provider, whichever is less.
• We shall not grant direct access to our data to Federal agencies. • No additional system features (software, hardware, or otherwise) may be installed without approval by the City Council.

These will all be presented at Monday’s city council meeting, which starts 5:30 p.m. at Bartlesville City Hall.