Today, ALPR systems are found absolutely everywhere. DeFlock.org tracks over 110,000 cameras across the states, each one uploading to their respective national intelligence databases. With these government mass-surveillance devices pop up more and more, it's important to remember that, in the States, the people have power. I've written a few tips to get started with DeFlocking your community, from filing RTK requests to speaking out in a public city hall. Take a look and do what you can, our future depends on it.
Gathering Information
Before starting your journey, you need to know what the fuss is all about. If you haven't already, take a look online at some information ALPRs and Flock Safety. Benn Jordan on YouTube has some great information on it. You can also take a look at our articles and our list of trustworthy news and sources for more info.
You'll first need to find some good information to base your arguments on. Find out what Flock's cameras or other ALPRs are known for, like having weak security practices, sharing private law enforcement data with other agencies, or getting innocent people arrested over false positives, and keep that in mind so you can compare the most important points with your city's own information. If you're looking for a specific vertical to stack your argument against, our list of sources has handy filters to use so you can be prepared with multiple sources for a point.
When you have some solid information, you need to compare it with how your city uses its ALPR system. Every state has its variation of the Right-to-Know Law. The RTKL outlines what information citizens are allowed to request from governments or other agencies, essentially communicating what data is public. The information handy for arguing your case is going to be stuff like contracts, agreements, security audits, and access control information. If you find your city doesn't do audits, for example, that's a pretty good point to make during a discussion.
The RTKL functions around submitting a Right-to-Know Request, a short document that you send to a government asking for what you want. The request content needs to be fairly formal, as the law states you must request information, not ask questions. The request can be emailed, FAXed, mailed, or physically presented to your city.
If you need help writing request content, there are some helpful outlines online or you can use our requests as a reference. Honestly, though, I think one of the best tools for the job are AI tools like ChatGPT or Claude. Love them or hate them, this is exactly what they're built for: language. They're free and pretty comprehensive, you just need to tell them what you want to find out and they can write the content for you. Something like, "I'm sending an RTK request to my city. I want information, contracts, locations, and any other useful information regarding ALPR cameras from vendors like Flock. I'm trying to convince them to remove the cameras, so include any information you think could be useful." Based on your personal suspicions or other information, you can then ask to add, edit, or delete content and shape it how you wish.
As for where to send it, every government is required to have an Open Records Officer who is meant to receive and process RTK requests. In my experience, this tends to be a city's secretary, but in any case you can get contact information from your city's website or your state's Office of Open Records Agency Database.
Once you send out the request, the agency has five business days to respond. If five days isn't enough, they can also request a thirty-day extension to compile and gather the requested documents. They also have the choice to bill you a small amount for physical records, postage, or record certification. This depends on the size of the city and nature of the records, but as of this writing I've sent out six RTK requests and paid zero dollars, so I wouldn't let this hold you back.
If the agency doesn't respond to your request within five business days (or thirty if they invoked their extension), the request is deemed to be denied under the RTKL. You then need to file an appeal with your Office of Open Records. This requires evidence that the agency received the document, copies of the original request, and anything else that would help an Appeal Officer review your case. Some states' OORs may also have you write a bit about why you think it was denied and why it shouldn't be denied. Once again, this is a good time to pull out some AI tools to write you legal-sounding documents.
From there an Appeals Officer will review your case and issue a final decision, which would likely be ordering the agency to fork over the documents if your request was ignored.
Arguing Your Case
Once you receive all those records from your city, your next step is to sift through them for any useful information that can help your case. Look for information like the security audit logs, which cameras the city knows about, how much they pay for the cameras, and, if you were able to retrieve it, how much the cameras actually help solve crimes (you can check out your state's Uniform Crime Reporting portal for info on that).
For example, your city might say it does not have comprehensive audit logs or security access information. Because of that, you might dedicate part of your argument to how, since there aren't regular audits, the police department doesn't actually know who taps into the network. Cite any articles about how both Flock employees and city employees often access the cameras for personal reasons and communicate your concerns. Sometimes, a city might claim they don't even know about a camera installed on public property or the camera is installed by a neighboring municipality, in which case they are surveilling their citizens for no benefit to them, only others. This all adds fuel to your fire.
When crafting your argument, you'll also want to propose an alternative to ALPRs. The city bought this technology for a reason so it's not likely they'll give it up so easily. For example, discussing how the city can reallocate their funds from ALPRs to hot spot policing, which is a method proven to reduce crime in hot spots, unlike ALPRs, which have less solid evidence behind them.
The length of your argument depends on where you are arguing. If you plan on attending a city hall meeting, plan to keep it around 3-5 minutes. You can also schedule individual meetings with city council members, too, which allows you to have a personal conversation with someone. It's much easier to get to someone when you're expressing your true emotions right in front of their face rather than complaining online or putting on a show in front of a bunch of people.
During one-on-ones, you can expect to have a half hour or more of conversation, not just a speech. You don't need to rehearse an entire monologue, but at least go in there with your top questions and concerns, maybe a few documents as proof of the stuff you want to discuss, and talk. This allows your city officials to truly process and understand your complaints. It gives them a little less research to do on the issue if you've done it all for them.
Raising Awareness
If you want to make sure the city doesn't blow past your concerns, it's helpful to have a community behind you. Sure Flock is blowing up on the internet right now, but remember not everyone is always on the internet. Online feeds are tailored to what you want to see, so while you might think everyone knows about this, that's because algorithms are only showing you other people who care. You need to garner interest in your community, which can range from making posts in your local channels, like Facebook groups, to making flyers to post around town, having conversations with friends and family, or even hosting small public events for people to come and listen. There's so much you can do and none of it is "textbook." Be creative, do what you feel is right, and keep in mind there is always something you can do.
If there are certain areas you lack, like you're good at making a website but bad at marketing, find people who share your concerns and request their assistance. Nobody here is doing this to turn a profit or to get recognition, they're doing it because they want to see a change in their community. People can do amazing things when they put their skills together for a reason greater than fame or fortune.
Community feedback is your greatest strength when it comes to issues like this. The LAPD, police for one of the biggest cities in America, recently decided to end its agreement with Flock due to overwhelmingly negative public opinion. The people of Dayton, Ohio were able to convince the city to put bags over their existing Flock cameras after an announcement stated the cameras "resulted in more than 7,000 searches related to immigration enforcement made by outside agencies."
If the city doesn't listen to you alone, go get some support from your community and come back with torches and pitchforks (figuratively). It's not always open-and-closed, getting a city to reverse a decision like spending thousands of dollars on cameras can be a difficult ask.
There's not much else for me to say about this topic as it's pretty open-ended. The way you get information out there is all you, and when it's all you it's more impactful, more personal. Get out there and get some support!
I hope this guide has been helpful, I encourage you to give it a try to help DeFlock your city. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us over on our contact page.