Video: Auburn City Councilor Dr. Rhoda Overstreet-Wilson on Flock contract
The short version: An Auburn councilor's on-record remarks about the city's Flock Safety contract show why local officials — not just police — must own these surveillance decisions.
Our Take
Credit to The Citizen Newspaper for getting an Auburn city councilor on camera talking about the Flock Safety contract. Dr. Rhoda Overstreet-Wilson's willingness to go public matters more than any single soundbite — too many of these deals get rubber-stamped in budget line items with zero public debate, and local reporters asking elected officials to put their name to a position is exactly the kind of accountability this issue needs.
We don't have the full contract terms in front of us here, so we won't speculate on specifics. But the pattern across the country is consistent: city councils approve ALPR networks with vague promises about solving crime, then residents find out months later how many cameras went up, how long the data is kept, and who else — state police, federal agencies, other jurisdictions — can query it. If Auburn's council is actually wrestling with those questions in public, that's a better process than most towns get.
If you live in or around Auburn, don't wait for the next council meeting to find out what's already watching you. Check our camera map to see documented Flock locations near you, and if there's nothing mapped yet, that's a gap you can help close. For residents who want to push back on a contract before it's signed — or demand answers after the fact — our take-action page has concrete steps for showing up at council meetings and filing public records requests.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of The Citizen Newspaper, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.