The Intermountain reported that House Government Organization Committee Chairman Chris Phillips, R-Barbour, and three other committee members sent a letter Monday to Dan Haley, chief legal officer for Atlanta-based Flock Safety. The letter threatens to use the committee's subpoena powers to get answers to questions the lawmakers sent in August and September.
What questions are still open?
The lawmakers' first letter, dated Aug. 14, asked 19 questions. They covered security incidents and unauthorized access to Flock systems, the scope of surveillance and data sharing, the accuracy of plate readers and false positive rates, internal oversight, employee access controls, and data governance.
Haley answered on Sept. 1, and said some questions about two-factor authentication were unclear. The lawmakers said the answers were incomplete or unclear and set a new deadline of Sept. 17. On Sept. 16, Haley offered to have Flock meet with the lawmakers instead.
The lawmakers say they will not sit for a briefing until Flock has fully answered in writing. "Meeting behind closed doors is no substitute for providing written responses," they wrote.
What did Flock say about two-factor authentication?
Kevin Kane, Flock's director of government affairs, told lawmakers at the Aug. 9 interim meeting that two-factor authentication had been available for his three years at the company and became mandatory in the last year. The lawmakers say a Flock blog post by Haley on Aug. 13 said the feature had only been offered since early August.
Haley's Sept. 1 response says two-factor began as an optional feature and was made mandatory as the rollout expanded. The lawmakers wrote that "multi-factor authentication was made mandatory literally only days before our hearing."
What did Flock say about its position?
Flock spokesperson Paris Lewbel said in a statement Thursday that the company has repeatedly offered to meet with the delegates. Lewbel pointed to nearly two hours of public testimony and 10 pages of written responses already given to the committee.
At the Aug. 9 meeting, Kane also said that data collected through Flock's technology is owned by its customers, including law enforcement, homeowners' associations and businesses. He said the data is not sold, and that data-sharing agreements between agencies must be opted into.
Why are lawmakers pressing?
The lawmakers wrote that they recognize the need for tools that help with missing persons and drug trafficking cases. They also noted that West Virginia has had the highest annual opioid and drug overdose deaths for 15 consecutive years. They said state legislatures have a responsibility to adopt responsible safeguards.
The letter also points to news stories about police misusing the technology and to recent hacking incidents involving Flock cameras.
What changes for drivers?
The letter is a dispute between the committee and the company. The Intermountain does not say whether the committee will issue a subpoena.
Local contracts are already in place. Monongalia County contracted with Flock for 20 ALPR cameras for the sheriff's department. The City of Huntington signed a five-year contract with Flock for more than 40 ALPR cameras, live video cameras, gunshot detectors and other technology, for $2.1 million.
To see where cameras are near you, use the camera map. How plate readers work explains the basics.
The letter set a Friday deadline for answers. The Intermountain does not give the date.