North Oaks City Council Candidate Forum 9.19.26
The short version: A North Oaks council candidate forum is a reminder that local elections—not just Congress—decide whether Flock ALPR cameras keep spreading unchecked.
Our Take
Credit to the League of Women Voters of White Bear Lake Area for doing what too few outlets bother with anymore: putting Mark R. Azman, Riki Banerjee, Andrew Gaspard, and Greg Peterson in a room and making them answer real voter questions. Whatever specifics came up about policing, budgets, or technology, forums like this are exactly where surveillance policy actually gets decided — not in Washington, but in small suburban council chambers where almost nobody is watching.
That matters because Flock Safety's automated license plate readers get installed through exactly these kinds of low-turnout, low-attention local processes. A city council votes on a line item, a police chief signs a vendor contract, and suddenly every car entering town is logged, tracked, and stored in a database most residents never knew existed. Candidates rarely get pressed on it unless voters force the issue.
If you live in North Oaks or anywhere in the metro, this is your cue: ask candidates directly where they stand on ALPR deployment, data retention, and who gets access to that information. Check our camera map to see what's already watching your streets, and use our take-action page to push your local officials before the next contract renewal sneaks through unnoticed.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of League of Women Voters of White Bear Lake Area, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.