AI Technology Clarification from the City of Rehoboth Beach

January 9, 2026

Recently, there has been some media coverage of the City of Rehoboth Beach’s use of AI technologies that may be a bit misleading or confusing. We do understand that this is a sensitive topic, and somewhat new to many of us, so we would like to provide a bit more explanation and clarification.

We’ll start with this:

• The City of Rehoboth Beach is not using AI technology to spy on you, or to track you individually. We can’t – the technologies we use simply do not work that way.
• We are using one form of technology (Flock Safety) for public safety. This footage is consulted when a crime is committed, not for monitoring purposes.
• We are using the other form of technology (Placer.ai) that provides us with helpful information and data showing visitor trends and demographics. This is a service that we subscribe to, and we don’t do any of the tracking ourselves, we are just able to run reports based on Placer.ai’s data derived from a third-party.
• Neither one of these technologies uses facial recognition, nor does the City use any technology that utilizes facial recognition. We cannot track you as an individual.

Questions have come up about the City not notifying the public, or asking the public, before using this technology:

• Both technologies were in the budget as day-to-day operational purchases.
• Since then, we have added a Flock Safety Transparency Portal to our web site and shared information about the technology.
• Placer.ai was included in the State of the City address, data has been shared in social media posts, yet it has been brought up more recently due to proposed changes in the Bandstand Summer Concert Series.

More about each program:

Flock Safety Cameras
Currently the only ones we have been using are four license plate readers that are positioned at the entrances to the City – two at the Canal/Bridge and two on State Road. These cameras detect license plates and vehicles – they do not detect people, faces, gender, or race. They do not pick up who is driving a car, only the car itself.

These cameras are not being watched by City personnel. This is a service that is used when and if we need it. The data captured is used for law enforcement purposes only, and only with a valid case number; for example, stolen vehicles, hit and runs, Ambers Alerts. The data captured is not sold; it is not being used to simply track cars that are coming into Rehoboth Beach; and it does not recognize any individual driver or passenger.

Flock Safety is used in thousands of communities across the country. In fact, cities using Flock can work together, and have countless times, to solve crimes.

In addition to those four LPR cameras (license plate readers), there are 30 other cameras that have been or are being installed throughout the City, and we hope to have those all up and running this month. These are replacing older cameras and are also used for law enforcement purposes. They are not facial recognition cameras, and they are not being used to track or spy on anyone. However, if a crime is committed that doesn’t involve a car (i.e., a theft, sexual assault), or if there is a lost child, for example, that’s when we need those cameras and that footage. People expect the City to have that type of coverage when things go wrong and it is our duty to provide it.

See the Rehoboth Beach Police Department Transparency Portal here.

Placer.ai
This is a service we subscribe to, which provides reports based on cell phone location data.

For more information, please see our previous article about Placer.ai