Providence City Council members are scheduled to consider a proposed ban on automated license plate readers Thursday, as the city’s contract with surveillance-camera company Flock Safety nears its Oct. 31 expiration date. The proposed ordinance would prohibit automated license plate readers and similar technologies across Providence. Its sponsors say constituents have raised concerns about the systems, including the potential use of collected data for immigration enforcement or stalking and the risk of misidentifying people or vehicles. Providence police oversee 60 Flock cameras in the city; Rhode Island State Police oversee six more. The city signed a three-year contract with Flock in October 2023. Police spokesperson Kristy DosReis has said the cameras operate in public spaces and capture vehicle and license-plate images, not images of individuals. She said department rules bar immigration-enforcement use and analysis based on race or other protected traits, and set limits on data access, retention and sharing. DosReis has also said the technology has aided investigations, including homicides and the Brown University shooting. The city does not formally track how often the cameras help solve crimes, she said. The dispute has become an issue in Providence’s mayoral race. Mayor Brett Smiley has defended the cameras as a public-safety tool, while state Rep. David Morales has raised privacy concerns. Morales, who faces Republican challenger David Talan in the Nov. 3 election, has pledged to cancel the city’s Flock contract if elected. His campaign manager, Ben Shanahan, said Tuesday that Morales supports the council’s proposed ordinance. The debate follows Gov. Dan McKee’s August directive for state police and the Department of Public Safety to conduct a 60-day review of automated license plate reader systems. McKee also urged municipalities to pause installing or activating new cameras. Several communities in Rhode Island and Massachusetts have paused or canceled camera contracts in recent weeks, though the extent of local responses to the governor’s request is unclear. The council’s consideration of the ordinance could determine whether Providence continues using a system police say has supported major investigations or ends city participation amid concerns about how vehicle-location data can be accessed and used.