Citizens Oppose New FLOCK Surveillance in Utica
By Pete Bianco
A number of citizens showed up to voice opposition to the City of Utica installing new video and audio surveillance technology through out the city. The city is negotiating to contract with the company FLOCK for this technology. FLOCK sells not just license plate readers that track the movement of vehicles, but facial recognition cameras powered by artificial intelligence that track the movement of people. Once the cameras and audio equipment are set up it would only take a software update to increase the amount of data collected.
Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs or LPRs) are AI-powered cameras that capture and analyze images of all passing vehicles, storing details like your car’s location, date, and time. They also capture your car’s make, model, color, and identifying features such as dents, roof racks, and bumper stickers, often turning these into searchable data points.
The Public delivers ALPR Surveillance concerns to the Council
The first speaker on the topic at Utica’s May 20th Wednesday night Common Council meeting was Sherman Stein. Stein quoted an April 21st article published in the Daily Sentinel stating that there have been zero gun related deaths or injuries in the City this year and that Lieutenant Michael Curley partly attributes this decrease in gun related violence to ICAN’s program SNUG which has also seen success in other cities across upstate NY. Stein called for more money for programs for the people of Utica rather than surveillance of the people of Utica.
Next Aubrey Langley brought attention to the abuse of this technology and it’s searchable database by police officers in other parts of the country to keep tabs on their romantic interests, including current partners, exes, and even strangers who unwittingly caught their eye in public. Langly quoted a recent article by the institute for Justice which identified at least 16 cases nationwide of officers allegedly abusing ALPR data this way, with the bulk of those incidents happening since 2024.
Langly quoted the article stating,
“Flock Safety and other ALPR providers emphasize that they have internal safeguards to prevent this kind of misuse. But only a few of the 16 analyzed cases were initially discovered through internal investigations, according to media reports. Most incidents came to light only after victims reported the officers’ behavior to the police, typically in the context of a broader stalking allegation.
In March, for instance, an officer resigned from the Milwaukee Police Department after allegedly using the department’s network of ALPRs to track his romantic partner and one of the partner’s exes nearly 180 times over a two-month period. His misconduct surfaced only after his victims looked up their license plate numbers on HaveIBeenFlocked.com, which collects Flock audit data that some local governments have made publicly available.
In at least one instance, an officer used an ALPR system to stalk a stranger they wanted to pursue romantically. Earlier this year in Florida, a Monroe County sheriff’s deputy allegedly used an ALPR system to track and eventually pull over a woman he met while providing security on a TV set.
The 16 cases listed below are almost certainly an undercount. Not all police misconduct gets detected, and some cases likely get resolved quietly. Officers frequently cite vague or inaccurate reasons for their searches in ALPR systems, sometimes to evade detection of misconduct.”
Langly and many who offered public comment at the meeting viewed this technology as a type of warrantless search and a direct violation of people’s 4th Amendment rights.
The next speaker, Haley Rudolph, started by focusing on the lack of regulation on the tracking of law abiding citizens, their data and bio-metrics stating, “We need policy before any of this kind of tech is installed or implemented.” Rudolph shared, “I watched the North Utica meeting where Lieutenant Curley addressed concerns regarding the FLOCK systems and I appreciate the level of transparency with the attempt to make residents feel safe.” She emphasized that her opposition to the technology is not a disparagement of the Utica Police Department.
“The problem,” Rudolph said, “isn’t in what this technology is said by UPD to be currently used for. It is about what it has the capabilities to do, how it is expanding, how it is easy for the fine print to change, gain backdoor access once something like this is rolled out without regulation. Especially with AI implementation playing a role.”
Rudolph explained, “The capturing of one license plate does not in itself violate the fourth amendment. However, hundreds of captures, tracking a single citizen across connected networks, accumulating an extensive trail of details would typically require a search warrant. All without your consent.”
Also noting that the Syracuse common council on Monday voted unanimously to ban bio-metric surveillance in most businesses in the City including grocery and retail stores, Rudolph urged Utica to follow suit.
She finished by quoting Chad Marlow the senior policy council at the ACLU who said, “The idea of keeping a dossier on ever single person just in case one of us turns out to be a criminal is just about the most un-American approach to privacy I can imagine.”
The next person to comment on FLOCK was Laura Widman who stated, “Flock as a private company pulls data from its cameras into a nationwide database and this data has been shared and used to create a level of surveillance that I find to be an affront to democratic values and freedoms. Even when an individual municipality has chosen to to share the least data possible FLOCK because it is a private company has on many occasions has chosen to share that data regardless because it has ownership over that data.”
Widman described a recent incident, “FLOCK’s database was used by Texas police last year to conduct a nation-wide search for a woman who had a self-administered abortion. Illegal in Texas but legal in the state of New York and many others across the country.”
“I am alarmed by how easy it is to track individuals’ movements via FLOCK and how this data could be weaponized, not by Utica Police but by other municipalities and governments across the country. To be used beyond the rule of law and beyond a laws jurisdiction,” said Widman.
Widman added, “UPD’s immigration policy quotes, ‘Insures equal service and protection for all residents regardless of national origin or immigration status,’ and I believe the use of flock camera’s would keep this from being true.
Residents cited other places in NY that have cut ties with FLOCK, these include Tompkins County, Ithaca, Saranac Lake, Syracuse, and Pine Plains. The website DeFlock shows where these devices have been installed through out the country.
The final speaker on this topic was Akshay Sharma who noted the collection of personal data from FLOCK’s license plate readers in the form of travel patterns, geo-location data, and vehicle information brings potential for misuse of that data. Sharma states, “FLOCK safety argues the company focuses on license plates rather than people disregarding the fact that license plates are directly registered and representative of those people,” and noted a California case where FLOCK worked directly with a Federal government agency bypassing the local police department.
Citizens weren’t the only ones concerned about FLOCK
Later in the meeting when Council Person Katie Aiello had the floor she thanked the community members who came to share their concerns regarding FLOCK noting that she too was concerned, while noting that some of her colleagues thought that these concerns were fictitious.
Aiello stated, “FLOCK vulnerabilities have been published and flagged by MITER, which is part of Homeland Security to manage cybersecurity threats. I’ve shared this information before and some of the risks are still rated as high or critical. Congress has even looked into it and called on the FTC for a formal investigation into Flock’s negligence and risk to security.”
Aiello continued, “This is a larger issue than here and it’s why so many cities are standing against it and saying not this company, not this vendor.” Aiello stated if people want to learn more or if they’re confused about FLOCK, she can provide more information. Also noting that she provided the white papers to police chiefs the other week that elaborates on the 52 vulnerabilities of FLOCK’s technology.
If you are concerned about the rollout of this technology in Utica you can contact Utica’s mayor Mike Galime to voice your concerns, or show up to the next common council meeting to speak. Common Council meetings are scheduled for the first and third Wednesday of every month except for July and August. If you want to speak you must sign up before 7:00pm when the meeting begins.
Mayor’s Office1 Kennedy Plaza
Utica, New York 13502
- (315) 792-0100
- (315) 734-9250
- mayor@cityofutica.com
