Active case file · WDM–ALPR
A reader's guide to the reporting, primary-record index, and unresolved public questions around West Des Moines' Flock Safety license-plate-reader program.
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West Des Moines has an active Flock automated license-plate-reader program with retroactive search and real-time hotlist-alert functionality. [F-001]
The investigation's compiled record includes agreements, permits, maps, portal captures and audit-log exports. [F-003]
This case file is a guide to the published reporting. It separates what the record establishes from questions that still require documents, direct verification or a response from the relevant institution.
The source library remains available for readers who want to inspect individual findings, the event chronology and the document index behind each chapter.
Reporting chapters
Chapter 1
Investigation
Emails show the surveillance vendor soliciting a pre-approval signature and discussing installation plans around the council vote. The available records do not establish that city officials signed early.
Read chapterChapter 2
Investigation
Flock later obtained an Iowa contractor registration. But the records gathered by the Sentinel do not document a penalty for the earlier work, an electrical exemption determination or local enforcement.
Read chapterChapter 3
Data Investigation
Eight overlapping audit exports show whole rows turning over in a pattern consistent with a rolling window. The evidence does not show intentional alteration—but it exposes a serious obstacle to public oversight.
Read chapterChapter 4
Records Watch
A 2023 police assessment names the facial-recognition company among department technologies. At publication, the records obtained by the Sentinel did not establish its cost, procurement path, use, or current status.
Read chapterWhat the record establishes
These are not conclusions about motive, legality or causation. Each opens the associated finding with its provenance and boundary.
What remains unresolved
Missing chronology
Flock Safety sought a conditional signature before the council vote, but the available records do not establish that West Des Moines signed the agreement early.
Records integrity
Eight overlapping exports show whole-row turnover consistent with a roughly 30-day window. They do not show intentional alteration.
Response under review
At publication on Aug. 1, the assembled records established no contract, invoice, policy, usage history, or current status. The city completed the related request on Aug. 17; this entry does not yet characterize the response.