Consideration and Approval of Contract: First Amendment to the Cooperative Purchase Contract with Flock Safety in the amount of $112,000, in addition to other fees and taxes, for safety cameras for the Flagstaff Police Department

Consideration and Direction on Citizen Petition: Freeing Flagstaff from invasive surveillance
 

1. Police Department presents on the contract amendment.
2. Introduce the citizen petition and take public comment.
3. Council provides direction on the citizen petition.
   1. If petition is advanced, postpone action on the contract amendment until after the citizen petition discussion
   2. If petition is declined, take action on the contract amendment
4. Approve the First Amendment to the Cooperative Purchase Contract with Flock Safety in the amount of $112,000, in addition to other fees and taxes, to the purchase of the Flock Cloud-Based Public Safety Program to include thirty-two (32) Flock Safety cameras and (1) Flock Safety Falcon system for the north and south downtown districts; and authorize the City Manager to execute the necessary documents.

In regards to the Citizen petition: In accordance with Art. II, Sect. 17 of the Flagstaff City Charter, any citizen may present a written petition to the City Manager, signed by a minimum of 25 citizens from the City...who shall present it to the Council at its next regular meeting. The attached petition was filed with the City Clerk's Office on August 20, 2025, requesting "Freeing Flagstaff from invasive surveillance." 

In regards to the contract amendment: The Flagstaff Police Department is interested in continuing our automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras in Flagstaff. The Northern Arizona University Police Department and Coconino County Sheriff’s Office have implemented their Flock Safety ALPR programs, and our participation will make our community and the region safer. This Flock Cloud-Based Public Safety Program ("Program") allows for the continued installation of thirty-two (32) ALPR cameras at the entrances and exits to Flagstaff and at major intersections within the community. Cameras will continue to be mounted on existing city-owned infrastructure, on designated city-owned areas, or on approved infrastructure with the permission of the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT). The cameras are solar-powered with cell phone technology and designed to function during all seasons. The installation and maintenance of each camera is included with the annual cost of the camera.

ALPR cameras take still images of license plates as they pass through designated locations in Flagstaff, and these images are maintained in their cloud storage for thirty days. The provided operating system from Flock Safety can be queried by a law enforcement officer only for a legitimate law enforcement purpose, which is entered and archived into the cloud-based public safety platform (called FlockOS).  The Flagstaff Police Department has experienced numerous successes since the installation of these cameras, and they include an arrest of a local homicide suspect, the arrest of a fatal hit-and-run driver, numerous recovered stolen vehicles and trailers, locating dangerous warrant suspects, narcotics traffickers, and finding missing subjects from our community.  Many crimes that occur in Flagstaff typically involve a vehicle in the crime, and this tool will allow the police department to gather leads and solve crimes that were once considered unsolvable. Examples would be the following:

1. Hit-and-Run investigation where the victim only gets a vehicle description of the suspect
2. Human trafficking case where a vehicle is known to law enforcement
3. Bank robbery where the driver leaves the scene in a specific make and model of vehicle
4. Vehicles used to traffic deadly fentanyl through our community
5. Drive-by shootings, active shooter, and other weapon-related calls where the suspect leaves the scene in a vehicle
6. Amber alert scenarios where endangered juveniles enter or exit the city
7. Silver alert scenarios where endangered subjects are missing from their loved ones
8. Catalytic converter thefts where a description of a suspect vehicle is obtained
9. Stolen vehicles
10. Impaired-driver alerts that get reported to the communication center

The FlockOS platform will allow officers to query the system, with supervisor approval, for a make and model of vehicle involved in a crime like those listed above and get a photo bank of license plates and pictures of similar vehicles that could have been involved in the crime. The FlockOS platform can also be configured to immediately notify the communications center and officers in the field if a stolen vehicle, amber alert, silver alert, vehicle wanted in a homicide or major crime, or another specific vehicle needed by law enforcement has entered or exited our community.  The Flagstaff Police Department has existing policy and procedure for this technology and regularly audits the Flock OS system to ensure it is used correctly.

We genuinely believe the community will continue to be a safer place with this technology because it will prevent or reduce the likelihood of some of the crimes listed above. We have had overwhelming success in making our community safer in this first year while being extremely considerate of the community’s right to privacy.

Project Name: Flock Safety ALPR Cameras for the Flagstaff Police Department
Cost: $112,000.00 in addition to other fees and taxes
Account Number Budgeted: 001-04-061-0222-2-4343
FY Budgeted Amount: $110,000. The additional $12,512 to cover this contract plus taxes and fees will be covered from 001-04-061-0220-2-4229.
Grant Funded: No
Funding Source: General Fund, FPD Budget FY2025-26

• At a City Council meeting on June 18, 2024, the Flagstaff City Council approved an initial Cooperative Purchase Contract with Flock Safety for the FY 2024-25 Flock Cloud-Based Public Safety Program.
• On June 27, 2024, the City of Flagstaff entered into a Cooperative Purchase Contract with Flock Safety at a cost of $124,000, in addition to other fees and taxes (see attached).
• City Leadership and budget team have also approved this Flock Cloud-Based Public Safety Program in our FY2025-26 budget, which was voted on by council prior to the new budget year.

1. City Council can approve the First Amendment to the Cooperative Purchase Contract with Flock Safety for the purchase of public safety cameras; or
2. City Council can deny the First Amendment to the Cooperative Purchase Contract with Flock Safety for the purchase of public safety cameras.

The Flagstaff Police Department patrol division has struggled with staffing for several decades, and this technology allows our department to obtain leads on cases which were previously thought to be unsolvable because law enforcement members did not detect them. The Flock Safety camera system serves as a force multiplier for our department, and we have many documented successes in our first year with the technology. In 2023 and 2024 alone, we have calculated numerous hit-and-run cases, shooting cases, homicide cases, and sexual assault cases where the Flock Safety cameras would have given our investigators leads to help solve these crimes.

The LPR information is shared with other law enforcement agencies.  This is similar to other law enforcement databases that agencies use to share information with each other to protect their communities. An example of the advantage of sharing data would be a case our Detectives are currently working pn involving high-end stolen trailers from local business owners.  Our Detectives were able to track these missing vehicles through multiple states to provide the best level of service to our victim.  We share our ALPR data with state and local police agencies only, and we currently do not share this date with any federal law enforcement agency.  Law enforcement agencies sharing data leads to more interoperability between law enforecement agencies, and this is especially critical when a member of our community is in danger or a victim of crime.    

In June 2024, PD and Procurement worked together to create a cooperative contract pilot purchase with FlockOS to test the product and confirm its validity. The Flock Cloud-Based Public Safety Program has proven to be a success; there is a need to amend the original Cooperative Purchase Contract to continue the usage of the FlockOS hardware and software to protect and serve the Flagstaff community. 

Safe and Healthy Community, Provide public safety services with resources, staff, and training responsive to the community's needs.

Policy PF.3.1. Maintain high-quality effectiveness and efficiency in law enforcement, fire, and emergency services to the extent that is consistent with governmental operations, plans, public policies, population served, and monies available.

There is no impact to Carbon Neutrality Plan.

There is no impact on 10-Year Housing Plan.

Our mission is to protect and preserve life, property and public order by providing elite service. This technology will better allow our officers to achieve this mission by not only having the right technology to solve crimes involving vehicles but reducing the occurrence of crime and the fear of crime in our community. We strive to make Flagstaff the safest city in Arizona to live in and embracing this technology is one piece toward that vision.