Platte City residents remain divided as city adds new limits to Flock cameras

PLATTE CITY, Mo. — KSHB 41 reporter Marlon Martinez covers Platte and Clay counties in Missouri. Share your story idea with Marlon.

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Platte City has approved new standards governing how its Flock license plate reader cameras can be used and how long the data they collect can be kept, but residents remain divided over the technology.

The city board voted to adopt the standards at Tuesday's meeting, placing new limits on law enforcement's use of the cameras amid months of public debate over privacy concerns.

Steve Silvestri

The five standards approved by the board require that the cameras and their data:

• Be used only for a clearly identified vehicle-related crime or public safety problem;
• Keep data for the shortest viable time;
• Limit access to law enforcement only;
• Require audit trails;
• Not be used for purposes unrelated to public safety or law enforcement.

The city administrator said the board believes the standards address concerns residents have raised at several meetings, though he acknowledged not everyone agrees.

Steve Silvestri

For resident Rebecca Espinosa Moreno, the cameras are about safety — not surveillance.

"I feel much better and safer for my mom living there with those cameras. Seriously, I want to know who's going up and down her road," Espinosa Moreno said.

But other residents have raised concerns about privacy and who can access the data collected by the cameras.

Marlon Martinez

"Basically, treating everyday citizens like we're already criminals, and we haven't done anything. You know, we're not a bunch of ne'er-do-wells," one resident said.

Espinosa Moreno said she wants safety to remain the focus of the conversation.

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The city said it signed a one-year term with a two-year renewal agreement with Flock in August 2025. Due to delays with the installations and activation of the system, Flock verbally told Platte City the initial one-year term would not expire until April 2027.

The city said a vote on whether to remove or keep the cameras will be determined closer to the expiration date.

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