Supposed Meeting To Cancel Flock Contract Turns Into Surveillance Scheme

On Thursday, July 23rd, 2026 at 9:30 A.M. in the Binghamton City Hall chambers, Flock contractor Karl Bach (invited by Capt. Flanders of the Binghamton Police Department) joined the city council meeting on Zoom to pressure the Binghamton City Council, who are less than 16 days away from cancelling the Flock renewal contract, to turn a blind eye to us, their constituents, who call for the termination of the Flock contract renewal in the City of Binghamton. The meeting was joined by seven representing officers from the Binghamton Police Department to intimidate both us and the city council.  

Although the agenda item for the city council meeting was to discuss the public Request for Legislation 26-139(Cancellation of City of Binghamton's Contract with Flock Safety) and to authorize "the cancellation of the COB-FLOCK Contract", what instead happened on the floor was the Flock contractor running wild spreading lies and propaganda while the police backed him up, imagining the most egregious things to happen locally to justify surveillance. This meeting did not give time for public comment. Anything said from the audience has either been ignored or shut down by the meeting presenter. Quincy Blair of the Policing Project at NYU Law School, who joined the meeting zoom call, presented the case against Flock contract renewal. We applause her for speaking out against mass surveillance. Throughout this meeting, a fact remained clear: a Flock representative spoke to our council, while we were expected to stay silent. Near end of the meeting, half of our constituents walked out of the room in disappointment of our council members.

We are confronting our council members next Wednesday, 07/29/2026, 6pm at Binghamton City Hall, 38 Hawley St, Binghamton, NY 13901. This will be the last Binghamton City Council meeting before the August 8th renewal deadline for Flock Safety with the City of Binghamton. We the constituents have spoken, again and again, against the renewal of Binghamton's contract with Flock Safety as well as all other private surveillance companies. The Binghamton City Council hears our call. They must do the right thing. 

The city of Binghamton must ban all ALPRs(Automatic License Plate Recognition)! A surveillance state does not make us safe. We keep us safe.