Press · Blue Springs Flock Record

News coverage, peer actions, and document links. Sunshine requests, PDFs, and the community log are on the linked pages.

Authorization and Sunshine requests

In December 2025, Blue Springs City Council approved a 10-year Flock “Safe City” path with a maximum authorization of about $4,666,900 (Resolution 108-2025). Sunshine requests:

238-2025: fee $81.87; production after payment (contracts/emails/ROW; not an evaluation package). Summary
166-2026: Org/Network audit exports closed with no records responsive; portal / 30-day framing. Summary
211-2026: 618,781 alerts; “No Preexisting documents” for listed evaluation and many outcome categories; several policy topics sent to Flock’s portal. Tables
248-2026: expansion emails open; revised fee $54.74 (was $109.47); payment pending. Status
323-2026: same audit exports plus contracts. September 16 close said answering the audits would create a new record; Resolution 108-2025 attached. Summary

PD menu “Flock Safety” opens the vendor portal. Proposed FY 2026–27 budget continues Flock/RTCC/DFR language.

Community record

Open mic: Smalley & Volk (Jun 1); Porter (Jul 6); Jestus & Adrian (Sep 21)
Letters log, mayor plate quote, Aug 24 follow-up: Community
Transcripts: Jun 1 · Jul 6 · Sep 21

Coverage

KSHB 41 (Isabella Ledonne), about August 13–14, 2026. Metro Flock concerns and company policy changes; Blue Springs Safe City path and vendor portal. Evaluation categories: 211-2026.

KCTV5 (Morgan Riddell), September 14, 2026. Resident Sunshine questions; Chief Muenz said the department runs bi-weekly audits reported to him. Camera/detection figures in the story match the order of the city-referred portal (see Sep 22 snapshot). 166-2026 · 211-2026.

KCTV5 (Morgan Riddell), September 16, 2026. Governor Kehoe signed Executive Order 26-18. Chief Muenz said Blue Springs Police does not need to change its policies; the department later said it is already in compliance. Portal listed 30-day deletion on the Sep 22 capture. 166-2026.

KSHB 41 (Isabella Ledonne), about September 18–19, 2026. Sen. Hawley invited Flock, Axon, Motorola, and Verkada CEOs to a Sept 23 Senate Crime Subcommittee hearing. Timeline.

KSHB 41 (Isabella Ledonne), September 22, 2026. Sep 21 Council open mic; residents asked for published success guidelines, exit authority if metrics fail, and an independent audit. BSPD did not comment. Portal snapshot: Sep 22. Community · Sep 21 transcript.

Location privacy (comparative)

Carpenter (2018) and Chatrie (2026) treat detailed phone-location histories as Fourth Amendment searches. ALPR grids that reconstruct vehicle movements raise the same movement-map issue. Flock announced a recommended 7-day default retention; Blue Springs’ portal still showed 30 days on the Sep 22 capture. Full write-up: Sunshine · Location privacy.

Other communities (peers)

Peer press only. Independence, Kentucky, is not Independence, Missouri.

Named Missouri and Kansas Flock pauses and exits
Place	Status	Source
Parkville, Mo.	Suspended Sept 11, 2026; cameras off pending review of access, sharing, and controls. No finding of Parkville misuse.	Landmark · KSHB
Weston, Mo.	Ended Flock after resident pushback.	KSHB
Seneca, Mo.	Police ended Flock after less than 90 days (Feb 2026), citing service failures and security concerns.	KOAM
Bolivar, Mo.	Unanimous terminate; city bagged cameras after Flock missed a 48-hour reply window.	KY3 · OzarksFirst
Willard, Mo.	Board voted unanimously to terminate immediately after the chief said community support was not there.	KY3
Pulaski County, Mo.	Sheriff discontinued Flock, will not renew, and will not replace with Axon.	KRCG
St. Charles County, Mo.	Stopped using Flock after a civilian employee’s personal searches.	KCTV5 / First Alert 4
Dutchtown CID, St. Louis	Dutchtown CID ended Flock early, not St. Louis PD.	First Alert 4
Ralls County, Mo.	Sheriff paused and covered cameras pending Flock answers on retention and access.	KOMU
Louisiana, Mo.	Police covered city cameras; a terminate ordinance was not enacted as of the Aug 24 hearing.	KHQA
Platte City, Mo.	Paused a park / splash-pad camera plan. Other city cameras remain.	KSHB
Henry County, Mo.	Sheriff will not renew when a grant agreement expires March 11, 2027. Cameras still operating until then.	KDKD
Wellsville, Kan.	Ending Flock agreements and covering cameras after community concerns.	KSHB
Gardner, Kan.	Council turned off city Flock cameras and canceled the contract. Does not turn off Johnson County or state cameras.	KMBC
Brentwood, Mo.	Internal investigation found sustained policy violations after alleged Flock use to track an ex-wife; no criminal charge reported.	First Alert 4

KSHB (Lauren Schwentker), about September 14–15, 2026: Excelsior Springs PD held a September 15 Flock town hall. Chief Gregory Dull said the community and city council will decide whether the cameras stay, and that the technology could be used for personal gain or illicit purposes so safeguards are needed. Clay County forum only.

Ending a Flock contract can still leave ALPR if a city swaps vendors. Pulaski declined an Axon replacement; Bolivar bagged cameras when removal lagged.

Missouri HB 3192 (2026) proposed statewide ALPR purpose limits and ~30-day destruction; it stayed in committee. On September 16, 2026, Governor Mike Kehoe signed Executive Order 26-18 for state-funded ALPR users (30-day deletion of non-target images, search logging, misuse rules).

Columbia published a first-year surveillance/Flock report. Blue Springs’ 211-2026 evaluation categories returned “No Preexisting documents.”

National / Congress

Senate Judiciary Crime Subcommittee (Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.): Flock investigation letter Aug 26, 2026; parallel letters Sept 2 to Motorola Solutions, Verkada, and Axon; hearing Sept 23, 2026 (“Always Watching: Flock’s Nationwide AI Surveillance Network”). Hawley release · Letter · Expansion · Hearing · Timeline

Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) letter to Flock CEO Garrett Langley, Sept 16, 2026 (response requested by Sept 25). Wyden release · Letter (PDF)

H.R. 10221 (Flock-Off Act), introduced Sept 2 with Missouri Rep. Eric Burlison as a lead co-sponsor, would bar federal funds for ALPR and biometric camera systems (introduced only; referred to House Oversight). Congress.gov

Open questions from the public record

Written evaluations (if any) Council relied on for Resolutions 87-2025 and 108-2025 outside the 211-2026 categories answered “No Preexisting documents” do not appear in the released records.
Compliance categories under 211-2026 returned “No Preexisting documents,” and much policy text sits on Flock’s vendor site, not as city-held documents.
City-held pilot or outcome packages implied by the 2023 Apprehended path and the 2024 Account Review CSV brief were not produced under the evaluation categories in 211-2026.
Share notices in 238-2025 appear alongside 166-2026 (no Organization/Network audit exports). Who holds search logs after 30 days, and where bi-weekly audit findings live as city records, is not answered in those releases.
No city-held policy here settles whether Blue Springs will keep 30-day retention, adopt Flock’s 7-day default, or write its own retention rule (Carpenter / Chatrie).
No city SOP for the fixed Safe City / Flock network appears in the released records; what is public is vehicle ALPR order §41.3.9 plus portal text. The PD “Flock Safety” menu opens Flock’s host.
City-held success criteria (if any) required before more Flock / RTCC / DFR spend are absent from the evaluation categories answered under 211-2026.
No city record here lists which agencies can search Blue Springs Flock data today.
The released audit-export answers do not say who audits org/network search logs, how often, or what Council can see (166-2026, 323-2026).
These materials do not say whether BSPD receives state funding that places Blue Springs under EO 26-18, or whether Council will adopt its search-logging rules as city policy. SOS eo18 · KCTV5

Contact

Archive maintainer: bluespringsresident@gmail.com.