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Public Safety and License Plate Readers

At a glance

  • What: the town's automated license plate reader (ALPR) program is under review by the Public Safety council committee (chaired by the Mayor Pro Tem with Edward Gray; first meeting with Gray in late September or early October).
  • Where it stands: committee heard an extensive discussion on privacy, transparency and trust; asked staff for effectiveness, data access, retention, safeguards and policy options; made no recommendation. Current contract expires January 2027.
  • Next: Edward Gray holds a town hall Oct 22 at 5 p.m. (third floor of the town building); committee returns to it in December. Related: Axon Drone and Interview Room Contract (kept separate), E-Bike Safety and Regulations.
  • Public forum speakers keep pressing for action; some allege out-of-state federal data sharing (unverified).

From the approved minutes (May 28 and May 26, 2026)

  • May 28 public forum (opinions of the speakers; not verified by the Town): Ann Stephens, a retired Apex police officer with 30 years of service, supported the cameras as a public safety tool. Sessions asked for review of vendor terms, clear retention periods, verified deletion and third-party audits, and favored stopping and rebuilding from scratch. Hogan said the Chief had asked for $150,000 to expand to 50 cameras, that the Chief had told Council "No federal entities. Hard stop," and that public records showed sharing with 994 agencies in March, 808 out of state and two federal. Tulier opposed the vendor, said the data sits on the vendor's servers and sharing agreements have no enforcement, and urged Council to stop using the system.
  • May 26 budget town hall: a resident asked how much the proposed budget includes for the license plate reader cameras; Councilmembers responded, and the summary minutes do not record the answer.

Discussion time

About 6 minutes across 1 meeting (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

Meeting Minutes
2026-10-13 - Town Council Meeting 6

Log

  • 2026-10-13 - Town Council Meeting — Committee report (no recommendation, December follow-up), announcement of the Oct 22 town hall, and a public forum speaker criticizing delay.
  • 2026-10-21 - Page created from public town materials and news coverage (retrieved 2026-10-21); no meeting transcript processed yet.
  • 2026-09-22 - Town Council Meeting — Public forum: most speakers opposed the Flock contract and urged against switching to another vendor.
  • 2026-08-25 - Town Council Meeting — Public forum: several residents urged ending the Flock contract and removing cameras, citing security flaws and data sharing; one speaker supported the cameras; another said an audit showed thousands of federal-agency queries (from auto-captions).
  • 2026-08-11 - Town Council Meeting - Public forum: many residents, including George Hogan, urged ending the Flock cameras, Axon technology and drones over data security and misuse elsewhere; one resident who works in law enforcement elsewhere urged keeping them (from auto-captions).
  • 2026-05-28 - Town Council Meeting — Public forum: one supporter (retired officer) and three opponents; 2026-05-26 - Budget Community Town Hall: budget question on camera funding.

From the video (October 27, 2026)

Council Member Gray said the license plate reader town hall was held the previous Thursday and more public conversation will follow as the policy is refined. A resident asked the Council to remove the cameras. See 2026-10-27 - Town Council Meeting.

Sources