Flock Safety is a tech and surveillance company known for their massive network of automatic license plate readers all over the country. These license plate readers are essentially cameras that record the plate, make, model, and and identifying features of cars, as well as potentially the biometric data of pedestrians - we don't know for sure, because the data is private and unregulated, free for Flock to use and sell as they wish. This data is processed by AI and used to track people's identities and paths as they travel. It's done in the name of public safety and sold to cities and towns as a law enforcement tool, but the company's data practices are opaque and deceptive, and the cameras themselves are so unsecure that they can be hacked by a passer-by in a matter of seconds.

In 2023, Shaker Heights joined this nationwide surveillance network, signing a contract for seven of these plate readers to be placed on major streets, then for 11 more in 2025, for a total cost of $204,550 before the contract is up in 2028.

This contract puts Shaker Heights residents' safety and privacy in danger, and must be canceled immediately.

First, it's not just known violent criminals or specific persons of interest being tracked. The nature of mass surveillance means it's everyone who steps in view of one of their cameras. Flock cameras have already been used to aid ICE - an agency that has been shown to primarily arrest and detain people who aren't violent criminals, and that was recently allowed by the Supreme Court to use someone's race and the language they speak as a reason to stop them. In the past year alone, over 170 American citizens were held by immigration agents, including nearly 20 children, and of whom almost all were Latino. In a separate instance, police in Texas have used the Flock network to track down a woman who had had an abortion and left the state. How long before data gathered in Shaker Heights is taken and used by someone we can't trust?

Shaker Heights police chief Wayne Hudson noted in a recent council meeting that all we can do is take Flock at their word that they're not sharing data gathered by these cameras. But the contract gives Flock broad license to share information gathered from them, only requiring "a good faith belief" that sharing the information is needed to address "security. privacy, fraud, or technical issues". And Flock is in an especially untrustworthy position, because the type of information they're gathering is immensely valuable to the government that's supposed to be regulating them. Knowing who someone is, where they're going, and how they get there allows you to track their schedule and routines. Combining that with other data points like internet history or less clear video feeds from doorbell and security cameras lets you map out their habits and behavior patterns. Analyzing it with AI means you can do that to entire populations at once.

When you know that much about what people are doing, it's easier to predict what they will do. And when you know what they'll do, you can control what they'll do. If tech companies that deal in data already lie about how they use it and violate privacy rights so routinely, how easily will they secretly give it up when the government ignores these violations because they're a customer?

Indeed, Flock Safety has promised not to use a city's camera to assist ICE or CBP before and done so anyway. A 2025 study by the University of Washington revealed that at least 10 police departments in the state had license plate data from their Flock cameras accessed by US Border Patrol without authorization. Similarly, Denver police appear to have had their Flock data accessed by ICE despite being assured by the company that they would not. This prompted Denver to cancel its Flock contract, as at least 30 areas have done since 2024. These include:

Sedona, AR - Flagstaff, AZ - Cupertino, CA - Los Altos Hills, CA - Mountain View, CA - Santa Cruz, CA - Saratoga, CA - Denver, CO - Evanston, IL - Oak Park, IL - Cambridge, MA - Watertown, MA - Hillsboro, NC - Scarsdale, NY - Eugene, OR - Springfield, OR - Woodburn, OR - Austin, TX - Gig Harbor, WA - Lynnwood, WA - Mountlake Terrace, WA - Charlottesville, WV

It's time to make our voices clear: Shaker Heights is not a surveillance state. We're not a city that sacrifices our privacy and that of our neighbors out of fear. We don't need Flock Safety here.

We demand that Shaker Heights City Council immediately end its contract with Flock Safety and remove all Flock-owned recording devices used by the city.

 

Sources:

Shaker Heights City Council's decision to expand the Flock contract with 11 new cameras

Shaker Heights City Council meeting on Flock data privacy issues (relevant section starts at 23:04)

Explanation of Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo, the SCOTUS case that allowed ICE racial profiling

Know Your Tech: Flock - ACLU Oregon

Demonstrating how Flock cameras can be hacked (Invidious link)

Loveland police chief disputes 9NEWS report about Flock camera data

Leaving the Door Wide Open: Flock Surveillance Systems Expose Washington Data to Immigration Enforcement (PDF)

Immigration agents have held more than 170 Americans against their will

Automated License Plate Readers: A Study in Failure

The Human Toll of ALPR Errors

 

Sources for places that have canceled their Flock contracts:

Sedona, AR; Evanston, IL; Oak Park, IL; Scarsdale, NY; Woodburn, OR; Springfield, OR; Austin, TX; Gig Harbor, WA

Flagstaff, AZ; Santa Cruz, CA; Cambridge, MA; Eugene, OR

Cupertino, CA; Los Altos Hills, CA; Saratoga, CA

Mountain View, CA

Denver, CO

Watertown, MA

Hillsborough, NC

Lynnwood, WA

Mountlake Terrace, WA

Charlottesville, WV