The Wright City Board of Aldermen voted to approve renewing their agreement with Flock Safety for two cameras the city currently uses in the amount of $6,000 during a meeting Thursday, May 14.

The matter had been tabled from a previous meeting as Alderman Karey Owens had some concerns about privacy related issues attached to the Flock Cameras. Owens was not present at Thursday’s meeting, but Mayor Michelle Heiliger read Owen’s concerns into the record as part of the discussion.

Owen’s written statement brought up two case studies, one from Washington state and the other from Texas. In the Washington case, a Skagit County court ruled that under Washington’s Sunshine Law, Flock images are obtainable as a public record. Owens noted in her written statement that while this case is out of Washington it brings up potential privacy issues that should be considered by Wright City.

The second case study involved a May 2025 case out of Texas where a woman was tracked due to an abortion and some 83,000 cameras were used to locate her.

Owens has previously voiced concerns that someone making a public records request for Flock records could obtain all kinds of information about Wright City residents.

After reading Owens’ comments, Heiliger asked Police Chief Tom Canavan if the Flock cameras, which take still images from fixed locations around Wright City, had been useful to the department.

Canavan said the cameras were instrumental in solving 17 cases last year and approximately 15 to 18 cases the year before. He said the cases were primarily burglary, theft and drug trafficking related.

Canavan said that still images captured by the Flock cameras are archived for 30 days in the department’s system.

Alderman Don Andrews asked several questions relating to whether images would be subject to a public records request.

Attorney Joseph Bond told the board that images that are part of an active investigation would probably not be open to a Sunshine Law request, but that other images could be disclosed.

At one point, both Bond and Canavan noted that there are exemptions under the Sunshine Law, such as if someone was trying to get information for the purpose of stalking or harassment of someone who may have been photographed by the Flock camera.

After some further discussion, Andrews said his biggest concern would be if an officer misused information obtained through the cameras. Canavan assured him that the chief appreciates being able to use the cameras for investigative purposes and therefore would ensure they weren’t being misused.

After some further discussion the board voted 3-0 to approve renewing the agreement.