End Mass  Surveillance: Don’t tread on my automobile‼️

This petition is about more than cameras. 

History teaches us that freedom is rarely taken from us all at once. More often, it is surrendered piece by piece, as each new restriction is presented as reasonable, necessary, or justified for the public good.

It is about whether we are willing to accept a government system that can record where ordinary people drive, where they go, and where they spend their time—even when they have committed no crime.

We believe Marion County can protect public safety without turning the movements of innocent people into a searchable government record.

Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs), including Flock Safety cameras, can collect information on vehicles throughout our community and allow that information to be searched after the fact. Over time, that technology can create a detailed picture of where people live, work, worship, receive medical care, visit family, participate in civic life, and otherwise go about their daily lives.

The question is not simply whether these cameras can help solve crimes.

The question is whether the benefits justify creating and maintaining a system capable of recording and storing information about the movements of people who have committed no crime.

And there is a larger question we cannot afford to ignore:

What happens when surveillance becomes so normal that we stop questioning whether it should exist in the first place?

Because surveillance already exists, we should not simply accept more of it.

History has shown that freedoms are rarely lost all at once. They are surrendered a little at a time—each new measure justified as reasonable, necessary, or for the public good.

“Just obey the law” misses the point.

Privacy was never created to protect criminals. It exists to protect ordinary citizens from unnecessary government intrusion and from the concentration of power.

Rights aren’t reserved for people who have something to hide.

They are preserved for everyone because power can change hands, policies can change, and good intentions do not always remain good forever.

We support effective law enforcement. We support investigating serious crimes, finding missing people, recovering stolen vehicles, and keeping our community safe.

But public safety and liberty should not be treated as opposing forces.

There should be a meaningful difference between investigating someone because there is evidence connecting that person to a crime and recording the movements of everyone in the community so that the information might become useful someday.

Once a surveillance infrastructure exists, its capabilities can expand far beyond its original purpose.

That is why we are asking Marion County to suspend the expansion of ALPR technology, disclose how these systems are being used, establish meaningful public oversight, end unnecessary data sharing, and ultimately decommission and remove County-controlled ALPR cameras.

The measure of a free society isn’t how comfortable it becomes with being watched.

It is how committed that society remains to protecting liberty while pursuing public safety.

Those two goals should reinforce each other—not compete.

We are asking Marion County to choose privacy.
We are asking Marion County to choose accountability.
We are asking Marion County to choose transparency.
And we are asking Marion County to choose individualized law enforcement over indiscriminate location surveillance.

DE-FLOCK MARION COUNTY.

Protect public safety. Protect privacy. Protect the freedom to live without being watched.