SYRACUSE DROPPED FLOCK OVER DATA-SHARING CONCERNS BUT LINED UP A REPLACEMENT THAT 2X'D ITS CAMERAS.

Our Take

Manifestation Academy's reporting lays out a pattern we've seen play out in city after city: officials make a show of "revoking" a surveillance vendor after a scandal, then turn around and expand the surveillance apparatus under a new brand name. Syracuse pulled Flock's operating permission after it came out that license-plate data was flowing to thousands of outside agencies, including federal immigration authorities. Good. But the Common Council had already voted 7-1 to hand Axon a contract for 26 cameras — double the 13 Flock units being replaced — weeks before the Flock revocation was even finalized. That's not a retreat from ALPR surveillance. That's an upgrade.

The Axon swap deserves the same scrutiny Flock got, not a pass just because it's a different logo on the pole. Axon has its own contracts with DHS components, meaning the same federal data-sharing concerns that got Flock booted don't disappear — they just migrate to a new vendor with a different name. And as the video notes, Flock hasn't actually left Syracuse; it's still running plate readers through separate deals with Syracuse University and Destiny USA, so residents are still getting tracked by the exact company the city claims to have cut ties with.

This is why we keep telling people: don't just watch the headlines about a single contract getting cancelled — watch the cameras. Check our camera map to see what's actually deployed near you, and if your city is quietly doubling down on plate surveillance while patting itself on the back for "dropping Flock," head to our take-action page and make noise before the next contract vote.