This is a developing story and will be updated as more information is available.
Ithaca is the latest city to end its relationship with Flock Safety over privacy and data-sharing concerns.
The Ithaca Common Council passed a resolution Wednesday night that ends the city’s contract with the company. Flock sells automatic license plate readers (ALPR), which record the license plate numbers and other identifying characteristics of passing vehicles.
Law enforcement can search Flock’s database for cars based on that information.
Flock sells hardware and software to both law enforcement agencies and private customers like schools, homeowners associations, universities, and retailers. Alongside their ALPRs and corresponding software, the company also produces drones and gunshot-detection devices.
The Ithaca Police Department announced its plan to contract with Flock in 2023. The Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office has a contract with the company for cameras and audio-detection software, although the Tompkins County Legislature recently discussed plans for a working group that will examine the county’s policies regarding Flock.
The county legislature previously voted to accept the state’s Gun Involved Violence Elimination (GIVE) grant, which pays for the Flock contract, despite pushback from some residents. Ithaca’s cameras are also paid for by the grant.
Ithaca’s cancellation comes amid an ongoing campaign by activists to end all local contracts with Flock Safety. Protesters rallied outside city hall before the meeting Wednesday.
Ithaca resident Ann Johnson said the cameras in her neighborhood unsettled her and made her feel like she was being treated like a criminal.
“It just felt extremely wrong to me, just wrong in the bones of my body,” Johnson said.
Local law enforcement have defended their contracts with Flock.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Ithaca Police Chief Thomas Kelly described the cameras as a valuable tool.
“What keeps me up is not being able to do my job, and not being able to have the resources to accomplish that,” he said.
Ithaca Mayor Robert Cantelmo voted in favor of the resolution.
“I don't know that I could live with myself if I allowed something to exist in our community that directly or indirectly led to someone's civil liberties being violated,” he said.
Some council members responded to language in the contract that allows Flock to share footage with law enforcement authorities, government officials and third parties “if legally required to do so, or if Flock has a good faith belief that such access, use, preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to comply with the legal process, enforce this agreement or detect, prevent or otherwise address security, privacy, fraud or technical issues for emergency situations.”
The resolution to end the city’s contract with Flock Safety was submitted by Alderperson Robin Trumble, who says the technology conflicts with Ithaca's “sanctuary city” policies.
Trumble and multiple other alderpersons said that the resolution to cancel the contract was not meant to be a disparagement of the police chief or police department.
“I just want to reiterate, too, a lot of my colleagues have been saying that this is not at all attacking IPD or law enforcement,” Trumble said at the meeting. “In fact, I think you've been doing an amazing job so far with what’s a very challenging role. But yeah, I mean, this is clearly an anti-Flock issue.”
In a memo presented alongside the resolution, Trumble cites the use of the company’s database for immigration enforcement across the country as a reason for cancellation.
“While proponents argue that such surveillance tools can assist law enforcement in solving crimes and recovering stolen property, critics point to documented instances where data was accessed by outside agencies without explicit local authorization, fueling privacy concerns and eroding public trust,” the document reads.
Some police departments outside of Ithaca have deliberately shared access to their database with federal agencies for immigration enforcement purposes.
However, federal agencies have also accessed camera data from some police departments without their explicit permission or awareness.
Last year, the Central Current reported that Syracuse was included in 175 “CBP-related” searches because the city had "inadvertently" opted into a nationwide database.
According to a January blog post from Flock, “if a local agency chooses not to collaborate with any federal entity, including ICE, Flock has no ability to override that decision. Similarly, if a community chooses to work with a federal agency, Flock has no ability to change that decision.”
Last year, the Illinois Secretary of State found that the company unlawfully shared its data with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Flock announced that it had paused its work with CBP and Homeland Security shortly afterwards.
Ithaca is not the first city to end their relationship with Flock. Austin, Texas, Flagstaff, Arizona, Eugene, Oregon and the Village of Saranac Lake in New York are just a few municipalities that have voted to stop or pause their relationship with the company.