As residents of Somerset County, we are concerned about the widespread deployment of Flock Safety automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras across our towns and county roadways. These systems create a mass surveillance network that tracks vehicle movements, stores data for extended periods, and enables broad sharing—often without sufficient public oversight or input.

Somerset County has approximately 100 of these cameras in areas like Bridgewater, Branchburg, and beyond. Many residents believe this scale is excessive and represents an unnecessary cost to taxpayers. While promoted for public safety, this technology risks eroding privacy and civil liberties for all residents. Communities nationwide have successfully canceled their Flock contracts after public pressure, proving that safer alternatives exist without invasive, excessive tracking. 

Flock Safety’s ALPR cameras capture and store vehicle data indiscriminately, creating a detailed record of everyday movements that could be misused. Reports from across the country highlight cases of privacy violations, unauthorized data access, potential breaches of cloud storage and worst of all, change to Flock Safety contract terms and conditions to remove "no sale promise".

Residents of Franklin Township and Somerset County now have to fear their personal location data being stored on a cloud by a private company, with insufficient cyber security, and terms & conditions that give a private company the ability to sell our data to 3rd parties. 

The normalization of constant surveillance fosters fear and suspicion rather than genuine safety and community trust. At a time when we should be building stronger community bonds, pervasive monitoring risks alienating and marginalizing residents.

We strongly urge the Somerset County Board of County Commissioners and local municipal leaders to:

• Terminate all Flock Safety contracts and deactivate/remove the cameras.
• Delete or limit stored data where possible.
• Require full transparency, public hearings, and strict policies (including data retention limits, access logs, and prohibitions on unwarranted sharing) before approving any future technology. 
• Prioritize community-based public safety investments that respect resident's privacy.
• Ban Flock Safety equipment from being used in Franklin Township and be the example for other NJ Township leaders to follow.  
• Discuss how to put into law preventing future public safety investments from violating residents right to opt out of personal data collection, or sale of personal data to 3rd party companies.

Ending reliance on Flock Safety cameras is a crucial step toward restoring the privacy and freedoms that are our fundamental rights.

Join us in calling on Franklin Township and County officials to end these contracts immediately. Sign the petition and take a stand for privacy, freedom, and a safer community without risky invasive surveillance.