We, the undersigned, ask the Kearney, Missouri Board of Aldermen to immediately suspend the use of Flock automated license plate reader cameras and take the necessary steps to terminate the City’s contract with Flock Safety. We believe the privacy and surveillance concerns created by this system outweigh its appropriate role in our community.

This petition is not based on a belief that the Kearney Police Department is misusing these cameras, nor is it anti-police. We understand Flock cameras can help locate stolen vehicles and assist investigations. Our concern is whether those benefits justify a system that routinely records the movements of ordinary people not suspected of any crime.

Flock cameras do much more than read a plate when police seek a particular vehicle. They continuously collect vehicle images, plate information, and the time and location of each sighting, storing it as searchable data about where vehicles have traveled.

These cameras do not exist in isolation. Flock operates a large national network, and agencies can share access to information. A camera in Kearney therefore has implications beyond our own police department.

Cases around the country show why these concerns deserve serious consideration. Flock searches have been used across state lines in an investigation involving a Texas woman who had taken abortion medication. An officer improperly used Flock to track a former romantic partner, and people have been falsely targeted by police because of AI mistakes. These examples do not mean our local police intend such uses; they show what becomes possible once a large, interconnected surveillance network exists.

Our concern is not limited to today. Technology, laws, policies, administrations, and the people with access will all change. A use prohibited today could be authorized in the future, and technology that identifies vehicles could eventually be combined with other surveillance and data analysis.

Privacy is difficult to regain once the infrastructure for widespread surveillance has been built. We should not have to wait until a system is abused before questioning whether it should exist.

Some argue our phones already track us, so Flock cameras should not concern us. We do not believe losing privacy in one area justifies surrendering more elsewhere. There is also a difference between voluntarily carrying a private device and a government network that records vehicles in public spaces regardless of suspicion.

This is ultimately a question about how much surveillance we are willing to accept in exchange for greater law enforcement capability. Public safety matters, but so do privacy, freedom of movement, transparency, and reasonable limits on surveillance. The community should decide, not simply ask whether the technology is legal or has helped solve crimes.

For these reasons, we ask the Board of Aldermen, which approved the cameras, to suspend their operation and take the necessary steps to terminate the City’s agreement with Flock Safety.

We support effective law enforcement. We also believe public safety can coexist with meaningful protections for the privacy and civil liberties of the people law enforcement serves.

Sheila Ernzen

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