A leaked document from Flock Safety, a company that sells automated license plate reader cameras to police departments across the country, reveals the company coaching officers on how to win city council votes for its technology, not by honestly addressing concerns, but by scripting the conversation before residents can speak.

The guide, obtained by 404 Media, instructs police to "own the narrative before someone else does." It directs officers to brief city managers and council members before public hearings, prepare a "carefully scripted presentation," and sidestep rather than answer concerns about mass surveillance. The goal is to lock in Flock contracts even when communities push back.

Flock's record is the reason those communities are pushing back. The company's data has flowed to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in cities with sanctuary protections, in apparent violation of local law. Its network was used to search 83,000 cameras nationwide to track a woman who had an abortion in Texas. Its technology has been deployed to stalk individuals and surveil protesters.

In Oakland, California, more than 140 residents opposed Flock in public comments and the city's own Privacy Advisory Commission recommended against the technology. The city voted to keep the cameras regardless, after police presented using the company's playbook.

When taxpayer-funded officers use a private company's script to lobby elected officials for that company's contracts, that is not public safety outreach. Sign this petition to demand Congress investigate Flock Safety's use of law enforcement as corporate lobbyists, and to require cities to publicly disclose any vendor-produced coaching materials before any vote on surveillance technology.