FARMINGTON — The town’s planned $240,000 automated camera network will not be activated until a community steering committee helps develop policies governing privacy, data access and law enforcement use, officials said during the Select Board meeting July 28.

The discussion followed concerns raised by resident Wyatt Flagg, who questioned whether the automated license plate reader project would improve public safety or contribute to a broader expansion of public surveillance.

“I don’t believe that this project is so much about public safety as it is about a nationwide trend that involves public surveillance,” Flagg told the board.

Officials said facial recognition features are not expected to be activated. The town intends to use the cameras to assist with investigations after crimes or motor vehicle crashes and to allow the Public Works Department to observe road conditions at high-traffic intersections.

“We don’t plan on having the features turned on for facial recognition and things like that,” Town Manager Erica LaCroix said. “But the main uses that we wanted them for was to investigate a crime or an accident after the fact and to be able to monitor road conditions in real time.”

LaCroix said the town is not purchasing cameras from Flock Safety, a company whose name has become commonly associated with automated license plate reader systems. LaCroix said the town rejected Flock because it would not have ultimate control over how data was stored or used.

Instead, Farmington is considering a system from Verkada Inc. Officials said Farmington would determine retention and access rules, does not plan to activate facial recognition features and will not turn on the cameras until a community steering committee helps develop policies governing their use.

“Flock is a brand, and they are a brand that does not give us ultimate control over how the data is stored or used,” LaCroix said. “That’s why they were not a consideration. … We determine how (Verkada) gets used and how long it’s stored and how it’s stored.”

The $240,000 grant is from the federal Bureau of Justice Assistance Byrne Discretionary Community Project. About $60,000 is expected to be used to improve secure access to the Farmington Police Department, while the remaining $180,000 is designated for cameras at strategic intersections. The cameras would be used to assist investigations after crashes or crimes and to help Public Works monitor snow and ice conditions.

Police Chief Kenneth Charles is organizing a community steering committee that will help guide the policies governing the system, LaCroix said. Recommendations for the policy will come from members of the public rather than being developed solely as an internal Police Department policy.

LaCroix said acquiring the cameras and activating them are separate steps.

“Being able to actually turn them on and use them is going to have to wait until we have all of these policy issues hammered out,” she said. “And that’s not going to be a quick process. So we’re not talking about being able to turn these things on in another few months. It’s going to take some time.”

DATA ACCESS

LaCroix said there would be no continuous, real-time monitoring of residents by police. She said the department does not have the staffing to monitor the system continuously and does not intend to do so.

Footage would not be available to the general public through a livestream, she said. Access within the Police Department would also be limited, although members of the public could submit a Freedom of Access Act request for footage. The town would then determine what information could legally be released, with records connected to active investigations potentially withheld.

Flagg said placing cameras at locations residents routinely pass could allow the town to assemble detailed information about their movements.

“If I’m walking past you and you notice my shoes are red, that’s an observation,” he said. “But if you’re placing cameras at key points that I have to travel through every single day, you will know my exact schedule. You’ll know my license plate. You’ll know key features about my car.”

Flagg also challenged the argument that people who are not breaking the law should not object to surveillance.

“I don’t think that just because I have nothing to hide that I should forfeit my right to privacy,” he said.

He raised concerns about who might gain access to the information, whether it could be shared with federal agencies and whether police officers or others could misuse it to track people for reasons unrelated to an investigation.

LaCroix said she understood some of those concerns and acknowledged the potential for evolving technology to be used differently in the future.

“It’s kind of a Pandora’s box, especially with things that are capable of AI, to know how they’re going to be used in the future,” she said.

The system is being purchased with federal money rather than local property tax revenue. LaCroix said the money was designated for a public safety project and could not instead be redirected to repairs or recreation projects at Hippach Field.

The town initially applied for the grant in 2024, but officials were instructed to resubmit the request after federal budget changes removed the original funding. The application later passed through the federal appropriations process.

One board member said the town must conduct additional public outreach because many residents did not understand the scope of the project when the funding application was approved. Questions still to be addressed include the number and locations of the cameras, whether they could capture private property, how long information would be retained and who could search the system.

Officials encouraged Flagg and other concerned residents to contact Charles about serving on the steering committee.

One selectman said continued oversight would be necessary after the cameras are activated to determine whether the system is being used as the town intended or has become too extensive.

The board took no formal vote on the camera project July 28.

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