WASHINGTON TERRACE, Utah — A city in Weber County planned to start a trial program to install three Flock cameras back in March, but Washington Terrace city administration and council members expressed concerns over the cameras and wanted to pause the trial.
On Tuesday night, city council unanimously voted not to install the cameras and wait to move forward with the program.
"I believe they are a good tool for our law enforcement,” said Washington Terrace Mayor Mark Allen about the Flock cameras. “But they do need to put some safeguards on those."
Allen said he directed the city to look at pausing the trial through the city after pushback from residents and concerns raised at the state level as well.
"We got some feedback from residents, and then the state got involved. The Governor came out and said he had some concerns,” Allen said. “I kind of looked at that and thought we better maybe step back."
One person who spoke during public comment thanked the city for choosing to stop the trial program.
"I just wanted to come out here and let you guys know that I am really proud of Washington Terrace and of you guys for listening to us citizens and taking steps to making sure that we're not under constant surveillance, where it seems like we are everywhere else,” she said.
The Weber County Sheriff’s Office operates three other Flock cameras in the city. This decision won't change what happens to those cameras, even though neighbors who spoke up at the meeting said they would like it to.
"I have to take different streets to get out of the neighborhood now that we have the Flock cameras here,” said another person during public comment. “Because I don’t know what or who this information is going to."
The mayor said he doesn’t know if the city will use Flock cameras in the future, but for now, they want to make sure they do what people want to see.
"Yes, I hope you all end this trial,” said another person at the podium. “But I hope this doesn’t come back. I hope this is gone and we don’t have to deal with this again."
