Public comment on Flock Safety camera contract
The short version: Oklahoma City residents packed a council meeting to oppose a Flock Safety ALPR contract, but the council approved it anyway — a pattern playing out nationwide.
Our Take
Credit to KOKH - FOX 25 for getting cameras rolling inside Oklahoma City Hall as residents lined up to tell their council exactly what they thought of a new Flock Safety license plate reader deal. This is the part of the surveillance expansion story that rarely makes the news: ordinary people showing up, on their own time, to push back before the ink dries.
The outcome here is depressingly familiar. Public comment happens, concerns about warrantless tracking and data sharing get aired, and the council votes yes anyway. Flock's sales pitch to city halls is smooth and well-rehearsed; the public's objections are treated as a formality to be endured, not a signal to slow down. That's how a technology with almost no federal oversight ends up bolted to intersections in city after city with minimal debate over retention limits, audit access, or who else gets to query the data.
If you're in Oklahoma City or anywhere else watching a similar contract move through your council, don't wait for the vote to already be scheduled. Check our camera map to see what's already been installed near you, and use our take-action resources to organize before the next contract lands on an agenda.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of KOKH - FOX 25, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.