Two meetings. One day.
Both decide.

Chair Chang, Vice Chair DeBone, Commissioner Adair — my name is [name], I'm a resident of [city/area], and I'm here about Contract No. 2026-0327, the Axon procurement.

Thank you for deferring this item on May 27. That deferral was the right call. I'm asking you today to use the time it bought.

The staff report before this Board did not say whether the fleet cameras include automated license plate reader capability. On May 20, the Sheriff's Office told a local newspaper they don't currently use ALPR. The Axon Fleet 3 product line used by Bend PD, Redmond PD, and Prineville PD is ALPR-equipped. If this contract includes Fleet 3, the Board is being asked to authorize the County's first ALPR deployment.

The Deschutes County Sheriff's Office policy manual contains no policy governing ALPR. Policy 8.21 governs deputy incident recording. Policy 4.30 governs traditional database queries. Policy 4.35 governs generative AI only. None of them address bulk scanning of license plates belonging to uninvolved drivers, or hotlist alerting, or inter-agency data sharing through a vendor cloud.

This matters because last June, federal immigration authorities queried Bend PD's Flock database 279 times in three weeks through a vendor default setting. This month, Oregon State Police are being sued for permitting 1.4 million federal queries of state law enforcement databases over the past year. Axon Fleet ALPR systems automatically feed those same databases.

I'm asking the Board to do three things. First, direct the Sheriff's Office to develop a public ALPR policy that complies with SB 1516 before any ALPR-capable system is deployed. Second, do not approve Contract 2026-0327 until that policy is adopted. Third, adopt a county-wide surveillance technology ordinance so this decision is not made piecemeal, one contract at a time.

The pending federal grant decision in July provides natural breathing room. There is no operational urgency to vote before then. Thank you.

Mayor and Councilors, my name is [name], a Bend resident. I'm here about the upcoming ALPR decisions: Policy 428 and the potential reinstallation of fixed license plate readers.

Thank you for committing to a public process before voting on any new ALPR contract. I'm asking Council to use that commitment fully.

Policy 428 as submitted does not yet comply with SB 1516. It permits outside-agency sharing without the statute's narrow purpose limits. It expands the parking-use authorization beyond what state law allows. It keeps every plate read for 30 days, the statutory maximum, when 72 hours would still allow real-time alerts with far less surveillance overhead. It authorizes plate-reader enforcement against uninsured drivers — an optional use the statute permits but does not require. The statute is a floor. Bend can set a higher local standard.

This matters here because we know the failure mode. Last June, federal immigration authorities queried our previous Flock system 279 times in three weeks because a vendor default was not disabled. Oregon State Police are now being sued for permitting 1.4 million federal queries of state databases this past year. The infrastructure leaks.

Three asks. First, do not adopt Policy 428 without a full public hearing and amendments to align with SB 1516's intent. Second, do not approve any new ALPR system until the policy is fixed. Third, adopt a citywide surveillance technology ordinance that requires Council approval — with public notice and comment — before any new surveillance technology is acquired, expanded, or upgraded.

Thank you.