During the Binghamton City Council meeting on Wednesday night, about a dozen people spoke out again in opposition to the renewal of Flock Safety contracts. Some speakers were from the group, Southern Tier Alliance for Freedom from Flock.
Flock Safety makes automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) and other surveillance technology much of which is powered by A.I.
Many of the same people have spoken or attended council and committee meetings since May. They are asking the city council to cancel the contract that is set to automatically renew in August. There is a second contract that will be up for possible renewal in January.
Activists mentioned concerns about who has access to the data, civil liberties and privacy issues.
One person sent an email to the council asking whether local crime data backs up claims that the cameras help reduce crimes or lead to an increase in successful prosecutions.
Council chair Michael Dundon broke with protocol to speak directly to those who had spoken during the public comment period.
“When it comes to the renewal of this Flock contract city council is looking for any option we have but we actually don’t have any power on this,” Dundon said.
He suggested to the crowd that those who are opposed to the contract renewal speak to Mayor Jared Kraham.
“We’re trying to do everything we can and I want you guys to understand that, [and] that we are listening. Most of us we do agree with you but our hands are [kind of] tied,” Dundon said.
Council member Rebecca Rathmell also spoke to the group attending the meeting. She said that just because the council does not have the authority to do something about this contract does not mean they would not take some action relating to the Flock cameras.
“The Mayor does not intend to end the city's contract for its license plate readers […] The city's ALPR technology has proven time and again to be an indispensable resource for Binghamton Police. In the last few years alone, ALPRs have been a vital part of hundreds of investigations and helped Binghamton Police solve homicides, sexual assaults, robberies, hit and runs, and other serious crimes,” according to an email statement from Deputy Mayor Megan Heiman.
In recent weeks, Flock has been the subject of many public comments and a Municipal Affairs Committee meeting by the city council. At the committee meeting Binghamton Police Chief John Ryan said the police department restricts access to certain investigators and requires an active investigation case number to access their information.
A Flock Safety representative and a technology advisor with the Policing Project at the New York University School of Law spoke to the city council at the recent committee meeting.
Recently some municipalities have ended contracts with Flock.
Nationally, Los Angeles is one of the largest to break with the company. In New York, Syracuse dropped Flock after learning the city had accidentally made its data available nationwide and it was accessed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Ithaca and Tompkins County have also ended the use of Flock cameras.
