Why I Voted to Cancel Our Flock Contract
Tonight, the council spent hours discussing Plymouth's use of Flock Automated License Plate Readers, and I voted with five of my fellow council members to cancel our contract.
Let me be clear from the start: this vote is not, in any way, a reflection of my support for our police department or for public safety in Plymouth. I have deep respect for our officers, our police chief, and the work they do every day to keep our community safe. That support is steadfast and unwavering, and nothing about tonight's vote changes that.
This also wasn't a snap decision. I've spent months thinking about this. I met with Flock representatives directly, alongside my fellow council members. I read articles, listened to podcasts, watched videos, and spoke with other local elected officials from across the region and the country about how this technology has affected their communities. And I talked with residents across Plymouth, at listening sessions, door knocking, and campaign events.
One detail from our study session stuck with me: state statute allows Flock to capture three things: the license plate number, the location and date and time, and a picture of the vehicle. But when Flock also analyzes attributes of that image, bumper stickers, vehicle color, make and model, it's capturing meaningfully more than what I believe our state law contemplated when it was written.
At the core of all of this is trust. Trust in local government is essential for residents, and I don't think most of us on the council have that same trust in Flock as a private company. That's a problem for them to solve, not us to assume away. There are real, unanswered questions about how this data could be used, and until those questions are answered, I didn't think it was appropriate for Plymouth to continue.
During public comment and in my own conversations with residents, I heard the full spectrum: people who told me they don't mind being photographed because they're not doing anything wrong, people who begged us not to get rid of this tool, and people who begged us to cancel it. I understand that struggle, because that balance, between public safety and civil liberties, between freedom and safety, is exactly what this job is about.
Ultimately, I believe some of these bigger questions around data security and privacy need to be solved at a level higher than a single city government. Until they are, I voted to discontinue Flock in Plymouth, not because I doubt our police department for a moment, but because I don't yet have that same confidence in the company holding our residents' data.
