In recent months, you might have heard a lot about a certain company—Flock Safety.
The company makes automatic license plate readers or, ALPRs, among other surveillance technology. Lots of it is powered by A.I.
Flock says over 5,000 law enforcement agencies use the license plate readers.
But recently, some municipalities have decided they don’t want to be a part of that number any more. Nationally, Flock’s gotten the boot in L.A, Austin, Texas and Charlottesville, Virginia.
A couple of months ago I reported that Ithaca and Tompkins County had both ended their relationships with the company.
Now some people want Binghamton to be next.
WSKG’s Binghamton area reporter Celia Clarke and Ithaca reporter Aurora Berry talked about what's happening.
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Celia Clarke: Greetings and salutations, Aurora and listeners.
Aurora Berry: Celia, what’s up with Binghamton’s Flock contract?
CC: So, the Flock aversion is spreading. And in Binghamton there’s a thing called “Request for Legislation” that anyone can submit to the city council. And a resident submitted one recently for the city council to not renew their Flock contract that expires in August. But he wasn’t alone. There was a rally before a recent meeting and then about a dozen people spoke at the meeting asking city council to cut ties with Flock and some spoke about all ALPRs. There was also a huge scary-looking puppet but it was only at the rally.
AB: Wow, what you're describing is making me get major déjà vu. Protest puppet included, by the way.
CC: That puppet kinda scares me. It's like Eye of Sauron or something like that.
AB: Yeah, aside from the striking puppetry similarities, we see these fights all over the country. And recently, locally.
Ithaca severed its ties with Flock in March. The next month, Tompkins County dumped its contract and then Trumansburg officials said they aren’t going to renew the contract for their four ALPRs when it comes up in August.
Thinking back to some of those conversations around that, concerns about this technology’s use in immigration enforcement were a big factor driving anxiety around these cameras. Is that something that people are concerned with in Binghamton?
CC: It is. And just about two weeks ago around here there was a lot of ICE activity over a short three-day period. One group that runs a sort of immigration hotline says about two dozen people were taken into custody.
I haven't been able to confirm all the numbers yet, though.
And that seems to have ramped up opposition to the ALPRs because it came up several times in the public comment period at that city council meeting. Some people think ICE had been tracking the people they picked up using ALPRs. But, it’s important to remember that ICE has a lot of technology and can buy more with the new federal funding they’re getting.
AB: That bit about who is getting access to data seems to be a huge sticking point.
I’m thinking about just outside of our coverage area. Syracuse dropped Flock after finding they’d accidentally been sharing their data nationally and it had been accessed by Customs and Border Protection.
So, that makes me wonder, who is Binghamton sharing their data with?
CC: Well, I talked to Police Chief John Ryan just after a recent city council committee meeting and he says they don’t share information with ICE because it would violate a city law. City council passed legislation last December barring anything city personnel, money, materials, anything from being used to assist federal immigration enforcement.
But this is just the city of Binghamton. We don't know anything about whether Broome County shares [their] ALPR data with anyone else.
AB: Okay, interesting! So Binghamton’s not directly sharing with ICE. But are they sharing with other local departments?
CC: Police Chief Ryan says they only share with the Vestal Police and SUNY Binghamton.
AB: I see. And who does Vestal share with?
CC: I asked the Vestal police chief about this and he says they don’t share their information with any federal agencies. They do share it with a regional crime analysis center and he says they’ll share with other local law enforcement in New York State when they request it.
But I have so many other questions about access.
AB: That’s what can make this reporting so tricky, in my opinion. In terms of access, whoever a department shares with, you’re then asking who they share with and then it goes on and on and on.
CC: Sort of like how viruses spread.
AB: Or, like secrets!
CC: Yes.
AB: So is the council just talking about getting rid of the contract altogether? Or, are there other options?
CC: Based on what they said during the committee meeting last week, they're considering all options. But the most immediate thing is that they have one of their Flock contracts about to expire in August.
AB: Oh, Contracts!
CC: Yes, they have two. One dated in January of 2023 and the other is from August of [2023]. And what the difference is in those two contracts, we have yet to find out.
AB: So does all this mean that that there could be a day when there are no more ALPRs in Binghamton?
CC: I don't know about that. The question remains to be answered by those who know. But, some of the Binghamton residents lobbying for an end to the Flock contracts have made it clear they want all ALPRs out of the city.
AB: Well, I know we’re both following this and have some public records requests cooking too. So there will be more from us on this topic.
Thank you so much for chatting with me, Celia.
CC: Always glad to, Aurora.
