Nelson City Council | July 13, 2026

Our Take

Credit to KnowPickens for sitting through another city council meeting so the rest of us don't have to. This is exactly the kind of grassroots accountability journalism that matters in the fight against mass surveillance: a camera channel pointing its lens at the people voting to put cameras on every corner. We don't have the full transcript, but the headline alone tells you what's happening across the country right now — councils quietly renewing or expanding Flock Safety contracts, often with little public debate until someone shows up and asks hard questions.

These contract votes are rarely covered by mainstream outlets, which is exactly why they sail through. A multi-year ALPR deal can commit a city to recurring fees, data-sharing agreements with other jurisdictions, and vague retention policies that nobody outside the police department fully understands. Once the cameras go up, they rarely come down, and the data they collect routinely outlives whatever justification got the contract approved in the first place. Whether Nelson's council pushed back or rubber-stamped the deal, the fact that it was even a 'major discussion' suggests residents are starting to pay attention.

If you live in or near Nelson, or anywhere with a city council quietly weighing a Flock contract, check our camera map to see what's already been deployed near you, and head to our take-action page for tools to show up at your own council meeting before the vote happens, not after.