The City of Fort Wayne is opening its Engage portal to take questions and comment from the public about the Flock license plate reading cameras.
The page will also provide information about how the cameras work, how the Fort Wayne Police Department uses the technology and how the data is handled.
Police Chief Paul Smith said the page will give residents an opportunity to learn, and provide transparency about the technology.
The city’s contract with the company expired earlier this summer, and public comment about planned continuation of its use has been largely negative.
While law enforcement touts the crime-solving benefit of the cameras, public comment has largely been vocal about concerns centered on who accesses the data collected, when that data can be accessed and how it is shared among other law enforcement agencies.
Last week, city council chose to delay the vote on the contract until they had an opportunity to rewrite the ordinance to codify the police department’s policy about the license plate-readers’ use.
