Payment for the Flock license plate-reading cameras that were briefly planned for use in Seward in 2025 may move from Seward County to Saline County for the next two years when an agreement is finalized.
Seward County Sheriff Mike Vance and Blake Swicord, who serves as the county’s homeland security manager, spoke with the Seward County Commissioners Sept. 29 about whether the agreement between Flock Group, the county and Saline County is a contract or a subscription, whether the county attorney’s office should review it and who should sign it.
The department worked with Flock to get cameras a few years ago, but when the cameras were mounted near the western edge of Seward in error, city officials objected and Swicord sought another location within the interdiction task force’s partners.
Swicord said the county received a $3,400 discount on their contract because the cameras were erroneously installed in Seward before locations had been confirmed.
The cameras have been used in Crete, and the agreement being discussed would have the Saline County Sheriff’s Office paying for the annual $12,000 lease as a third party in the agreement while the Seward County Sheriff’s Office remains the contracting customer.
There is also a $600 annual fee for access to the Flock database.
Agencies must lease four cameras and contribute data from them to its database in order to access data culled by cameras in other cities and states.
Swicord said the contract maintains Seward County’s ability to look at data from cameras operated by the Nebraska State Patrol and other agencies in the state. He listed four agencies with more than 130 cameras.
Flock cameras are different from the Vigilant cameras mounted in Seward County Sheriff’s vehicles. Swicord has reported previously that the task force has used ALPR (Automated License Plate Recognition) cameras since 2019 and has 10 cameras mounted on four patrol vehicles that can record vehicles traveling up to 150 miles per hour.
The Flock program stores video for 30 days unless a specific portion of the video becomes part of a criminal investigation. The lease is funded by the task force’s asset forfeiture program
Vance told commissioners the agreement is a subscription, not a contract, so it would not require review. The current agreement was signed by Swicord. Vance told commissioners the department did not utilize a bidding process to purchase the data-sharing services that come with the lease of the cameras.
Commissioner Darrell Zabrocki said while the data access is a subscription, the lease and the county’s release of the cameras to Saline County are something else.
Commissioners regularly ask department leaders to have the county attorney’s office review contracts, purchase agreements and other documents, and Chair Misty Ahmic said the Flock agreement is no different.
She said it is the board’s job to assure the county is protected in those agreements.
Swicord said the memorandum of agreement with Saline County and Flock is to allow them to pass on specific information Saline County officials may request.
Ahmic, Zabrocki, Raegan Hain and Jonathan Curtis voiced to establish a county policy that includes legal review of memorandums of agreement or understanding, though no formal action was taken. Commissioner Scott Pekarek was absent.
Vance said he did not have an issue with the county attorney’s office reviewing the department’s agreements “because they understand law enforcement.”
“I do have a problem with the county board thinking they need to review it,” he said.
Ahmic said the policy is not aimed solely at the sheriff’s office, and said the county needs to identify which kinds of documents need to be reviewed.
Earlier in the meeting, the commissioners had asked the Seward County Emergency Management office to have a couple service contracts reviewed before they could be approved.
The commissioners regularly ask department leaders to have the county attorney’s office review purchase and service agreements, leases and memorandums of understanding, in part to comply with the Nebraska County Purchasing Act.
According to the Nebraska Association of County Officials website, the act was created in Nebraska statute 23-3101 and provides uniform purchasing procedures for county purchases of equipment, supplies, other items and services, including the requirement for at least three informal bids for purchases of $10,000 or more, excluding professional services.
The agenda item right before the sheriff’s office discussion was to assure the county is taking appropriate steps to comply with the County Purchasing Act. There is no formal policy now, but Deputy County Attorney Barb Armstead said best practices for contracts and memorandums of understanding involve legal review.
If an elected official has delegated authority to an employee within their department to sign such documents, best practice would be to have that delegation documented.
Armstead and Hain are to bring a draft policy to the board for possible adoption.
