Take action in your community

Dozens of cities have canceled Flock contracts because residents organized and showed up. Here's how to do it where you live. This is a guide to lawful civic advocacy — engaging officials and the public, not tampering with equipment.

The playbook

1. 1

   Find out if your town already uses Flock

   Search the DeFlock map for cameras near your home, school, or workplace, and scan recent city council agendas for the words “Flock,” “license plate reader,” or “ALPR.”

2. 2

   Ask your city council the hard questions

   Does the city have a Flock contract and what does it cost? How long is data retained? Can police search it without a warrant? Which outside agencies — including federal and out-of-state — can access it?

3. 3

   Request the audit logs

   Use public-records requests to obtain the search/audit logs. Reporting has repeatedly found federal immigration queries and out-of-state searches running against local cameras.

4. 4

   Organize with neighbors

   Search “flock out,” “deflock,” or “stop flock” plus your city name to find or start a local group. Dozens of municipalities have canceled contracts after organized resident pressure.

5. 5

   Show up and speak

   Attend council meetings, submit written comment, and ask for a vote to end the contract or pass an ordinance restricting ALPR use and data sharing.

Questions to ask your city council

Copy these into an email or read them at public comment.

• Does our city have a contract with Flock Safety or any other ALPR vendor?
• What is the data retention period, and who approved it?
• Can officers search the system without a warrant or documented case number?
• Which external agencies — federal, state, or out-of-state — can query our data?
• Has any federal immigration agency (ICE, CBP, HSI) accessed our cameras?
• Where are the public audit logs, and who reviews them?
• What happens to the data if the contract ends?

Resources & allies

Organizations and tools doing this work nationwide. We link them with credit — start here.

• DeFlock — ALPR camera map →

  Crowdsourced map of ~90,000 license plate reader cameras. Find what is near you and report cameras that aren’t yet mapped.

• EFF — Get Flock Out / Street-Level Surveillance →

  The Electronic Frontier Foundation’s investigations and organizing resources on ALPR mass surveillance.

• Fight for the Future — FLOCK Out →

  National campaign and action toolkit to remove Flock cameras from communities.

• StopFlock.com →

  Organizing hub with messaging, research, and sample petitions from successful campaigns.

• ACLU of Oregon — Know Your Tech: Flock →

  Plain-language explainer of how Flock works and what it means for your rights.

• Maryville Residents for Privacy — toolkit →

  A practical, resident-built guide to countering Flock surveillance locally.