I recently discovered that Flock cameras exist, and additionally that my city has them. I was annoyed enough to speak at my city council meeting yesterday. See my comments below:
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Good afternoon mayor and council, my name is Brendan Trachsel and I have lived in Flagstaff for about five years. Today I come to you with deep concern regarding the Flock camera systems that have been installed throughout Flagstaff.
For those who don’t know, Flock cameras continuously scan, track, and store license plate information along with distinguishing features such as vehicle color, stickers, accessories, and damage for every single car that comes into their view. Not just cars included in warrants, amber alerts, or reported as stolen; it's universal. No crime, accusation, or suspicion is needed. With multiple cameras installed across the city, this means that Flagstaff is conducting mass surveillance, tracking residents’ movements without their consent. I can say affirmatively that my car was tracked driving to this meeting today, and it’s likely the same for almost everyone here.
Unlike traditional automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) cameras that scan and then delete non-matching data, Flock cameras store everything, creating a surveillance record in the cloud of all vehicles—regardless of any criminal connection.With Flock cameras, the city doesn’t even own the cameras or the footage they produce. Instead, a private company controls it, building a nationwide database tracking the movements of millions of people. Through contracts with over 5,000 cities, Flock Safety is storing this data without regulation, oversight, or public consent. If Flagstaff PD thinks that our data is protected based on company claims, I’d encourage them to read the only line that matters from their privacy policy: “Flock is free to revise this Privacy Notice at any time”.
This AI-driven database can be accessed not just by law enforcement but potentially by corporations, federal agencies, or even foreign entities—because there are no legal restrictions on its use. This system is ripe for abuse; In fact, just last August, the police chief of Sedgwick, Kansas, admitted to misusing this system to stalk his ex-girlfriend 228 times.
The people of Flagstaff should not be unknowingly monitored, tracked, and stored in a private database. With no oversight, no real safeguards, and a proven risk of abuse, this system has no place in our city. The council must act now—cancel the contract and end the mass surveillance of your citizens. Thank you.
ACLU Whitepaper on Flock Cameras
Kansas Police Chief Misuse Article
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