06-23-25-R - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION – MAY 27, 2025 11 Undersheriff Ramacher said decisions made with the contract cities are collective decisions. They are mutually beneficial decisions for all of the cities involved. He can’t think of a scenario where a city has come in after the fact and wanted to retract their position on a certain thing. If that were to happen, City Administrator Jagoe would be the conduit to talk to the other cities regarding what that looks like. They’ll consider anything. It’s typically not how decisions are made. They want to do things that are mutually beneficial for all the parties involved. Councilmember Monson said how we contract will be important. She wondered how the contract cities will be notified if Flock expands it’s capabilities, via AI, maybe they can see the color of the car, they can read the speed, facial recognition. Undersheriff Ramacher said that notice would come through the City Administrator. Councilmember Monson said at that point there should be a significant reconsideration. AI is going to get good at this. If we have data that can identify a series of things and the system gets hacked. Then what? Undersheriff Ramacher said he sat through an AI presentation. He agrees, it’s coming. Councilmember Monson said she has two major concerns. First, the contracting with the opportunity to decide if we want to continue after changes take place. Secondly, she is concerned that this is the first step to increased costs in policing. RCSO does a great job. She appreciates that we have low crime. That is attributable to them. This Council is very responsible when it comes to the budget. Between RCSO and the fire department, public safety is about 50% of the budget. She said the federal government hasn’t passed data privacy laws and a lot of states don’t have them. She wondered where the buck stops. Who is responsible for protecting the data? That’s the City Council and the County Commissioners. The agencies who are lower are usually the ones trying to protect people’s date. She feels like this is a victim of a bigger issue. She feels like her questions are all solvable, she just would like to hear those answers before proceeding. Councilmember Holden said she thinks the contract with Flock should state it reads license plates only. Then they would have to come to us to amend the contract if other capabilities become available. Undersheriff Ramacher agrees. He knows the AI is already out there. Councilmember Monson said she thinks companies are always looking for a way to expand their business. Mayor Grant said he would like to sort through all these questions. This small item, out of a $1.75 million per year contract is increasing the effectiveness and safety for RCSO. He’s okay with the cameras. He would like to give each Councilmember a chance to state if they are okay with Flock or not. Councilmember Monson said she just summarized her concerns. She wants to understand the data and contract pieces before saying yes. If we’re totally liable for breached data, it will swing which way she goes.