Bend, OR

The Bend City Council voted to switch off the city's four Flock Safety license plate reader cameras and not renew the annual contract, ending a pilot program roughly five months early. The council cited data security concerns. Residents raised objections about continuous data collection on law-abiding drivers, retention periods, who can access the data, and the risk of misuse or breach.

What moved this decision

Data security concerns raised by the council
Resident fears of mass surveillance and continuous collection on uninvolved drivers
Uncertainty about retention, access and breach risk
Regional momentum from Eugene, Springfield and Woodburn cancellations

What happened afterwards

Bend illustrates the substitution pattern that pure cancellation counts miss: after de-Flocking, city officials began circling a new surveillance camera vendor with no plans for public input, according to local reporting. The cancellation was part of a rapid Oregon cascade - Eugene, Springfield, Woodburn and Skamania County in Washington had all turned off Flock cameras shortly before - which fed directly into Oregon SB 1516, signed by Governor Tina Kotek on 2026-03-31.

What we still don’t know

These are the records we would need to describe this decision completely. If you can help obtain them, or already have them, get in touch.

Council vote count not established
Which replacement vendor Bend selected, and whether any public process occurred