DeFlock STL
protecting privacy in the st. Louis area
We aim to inform residents in the St. Louis area about the privacy dangers of Flock Safety, and similar systems, and advocate for the removal of these devices in our community.
What is Flock Safety
Flock Safety is one of the largest automatic license plate reader (ALPR) systems in the U.S., with 100,000+ cameras across the country. These cameras operate 24/7 to capture not only license plates, but other identifiable information and whether or not the driver is suspected of any crime.
This data is saved and made available to thousands of agencies nationwide. Federal agencies, including ICE, have searched this database with help from local agencies, officials in Texas have used this data to track women accessing reproductive health services and individual officers have used the data to stalk private citizens.
These cameras have been put up across the St. Louis area, and they put residents in danger from an increasingly violent federal government, enforcement of out of state laws, harassment from police and warrant-less surveillance. DeFlock STL encourages residents to contact elected officials and call for the removal of these systems.
What’s wrong with Flock Safety?
Nationwide surveillance and few guardrails
Police in Texas have used Flock Safety to track women seeking reproductive health services. With access to 100,000+ cameras in the U.S., out of state authorities can track your whereabouts with a few clicks.
Federal access and immigration enforcement
While Flock Safety has said it does not share data with federal agencies, records have shown other agencies using Flock’s data on behalf of ICE and other organizations. This expands the federal government’s violent actions against immigrants and U.S. citizens we have seen in other cities.
Multiple cities are turning off their Flock cameras over concerns the federal government could use the data to target their immigrant community, as well as other targeted groups.
Tracking protected speech
Data from public records requests have shown law enforcement explicitly searching for traffic around protests and first amendment-protected speech.
Officers abuse these tools for personal gain
Police across the U.S. have been found to misuse these tools to track individuals for personal reasons – including an officer tracking his ex-girlfriend and another selling data to a private company. Illegal and invasive use of these systems from individuals far outside Missouri can put local residents in harm’s way.
Poor security
Flock has seen multiple news cycles highlighting their poor security, with projects like haveibeenflocked.com making the results of 80 million Flock searches public and a video from 404 Media and Benn Jordan showing the company had left admin access and live streams from their devices publicly available online.
Take Action
Use our forms to reach out to your local elected officials about Flock Safety and ALPRs.