Get The Flock Out

Watsonville: 🚨BREAKING NEWS 🚨 

Watsonville City Council has an agenda item scheduled for THIS TUESDAY, September 9th, to lease 37 Flock Cameras for the next two years. This includes the current 20 and an additional 17 cameras, for a total of 37 altogether (!).  💸 The cost is $251,000 over the next two years, and then $118,300 annually after that. 

This item is on the “consent agenda,” which means it can be passed with several other items, assuming the vote is unanimous. Our understanding is that it will take only one council member to remove it from the consent agenda. 

Tell the Mayor, the City Manager, and the Council that this item should be removed from the consent agenda and tabled until community discussion can take place, in light of the many news reports issued about Flock cameras, mass surveillance, and privacy concerns.

‼️ ACTION:  Attend Watsonville City Council’s public comment period ‼️

📆 When: Tuesday, Sept. 9th at 6PM

🏓 Where: City Council Chambers, 275 Main Street, Top Floor, Watsonville

Show up and ask the Mayor, the City Manager, and the Council during the public comment period to PAUSE the contract and NOT renew it until they have a full dialogue with the community about our mass surveillance and privacy concerns.

Please email us at gtfoscc@proton.me if you can make it, and to sign on to our campaign to rid Santa Cruz County of mass surveillance tracking cameras. 

Can’t make it in person, already signed on, and still want to help? Call and/or email Watsonville City officials and tell them to PAUSE the contract and NOT renew it until they have a full dialogue with the community about our mass surveillance and privacy concerns. 

This item should be removed from the consent agenda and tabled until community discussion can take place.

Contacts:  

Mayor Orozco: maria.orozco@watsonville.gov, 831-768-3010

City Manager Vides: citymanager@watsonville.gov, 831-768-3010

City Council Members: citycouncil@watsonville.gov. 

Call: Watsonville City Council phone numbers.  

See a list of current Watsonville camera locations.

The US is quickly becoming a mass surveillance state. Our community, and maybe yours, is complying.

Background: Flock automated license plate readers (ALPRs) are now installed in at least 5,000 communities across the United States. Police and Sheriff departments are already misusing the data collected from ALPRs, and highly questionable searches and data transfers have occurred in large numbers. Billions of vehicle travel records have now been obtained by the Flock company, and US police and sheriffs departments.

ICE and Homeland Security are accessing this data – indeed, the readers in the city of Santa Cruz were supposed to be obtained through a Department of Homeland Security grant, but that money came out of the general fund instead. Now, the SCPD is hoping to install 14 more ALPRs through grants. And Watsonville is seeking to add 17 cameras for a total of 37 (see urgent action item above!). One woman was tracked through the national Flock system by a Texas police department after having an abortion. Police departments are casually and voluntarily sharing information with federal agencies like ICE and Homeland Security.

Our city councils should remove these cameras ASAP. We do not need to contribute to any further mass surveillance infrastructure in this nation, especially under an unhinged authoritarian regime, nor any administration.

Important! Please read more about Flock cameras, Palantir, and mass surveillance here. Curious about where cameras are in Santa Cruz County? See our list here.

Here is the background information on these cameras in Santa Cruz County, across the state, and nationally, and how they are being used by ICE and Homeland Security, as well as by police departments in various states to track (and potentially track) women who have had abortions, and ordinary citizens, in general.

If you are interested in joining in a grassroots campaign to remove these mass surveillance cameras in Santa Cruz County, our campaign is asking for the following:

• Send an email with your contact information: name, titles (if any), phone number, and your email address to gtfoscc@proton.me. Let us know if you are willing to be listed as a supporter of this campaign and, if you are a group, if you want to be listed as a group.

• Use this Santa Cruz Area Action Toolkit to study the issue and contact your local City Councils (in Santa Cruz County, the cities of Watsonville, Capitola and Santa Cruz all have these cameras). The Scotts Valley and Unincorporated Santa Cruz County Toolkit can be found here, because these areas do not have Flock cameras at present. Feel free to adapt the Toolkit for your local community. 

• In Santa Cruz: Ask your council members and Mayor to agendize this item (to remove Flock cameras) and organize community members to speak at council meetings and send emails in ahead of such votes. See the Action Toolkit for how, when, and where. 

• Begin an in-depth conversation in your community about what these cameras mean for our society, for democracy, for our Constitution (i.e., the 4th Amendment), and under the current administration. Flock data is currently being shared with ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, and has been shared countless times in violation of California state law. As we understand it, the Flock company stores and owns all data collected. Flock is partially funded by Peter Thiel’s Founder’s Fund (also funder of Thiel’s Palantir), and Thiel has been the main financial backer of J.D. Vance. 

• Thiel and many of his tech/AI colleagues and political bedfellows have stated they are essentially opposed to women’s right to vote, and some have been clear that they oppose democracy altogether. Given all this, who really has oversight over this data? Who is the watchdog over Flock? Is there any watchdog whatsoever? What will this data be used for in the future and what is it being used for now?

• There is a tremendous amount of data and research going back more than a decade on Flock cameras and the impacts of Ring and other security cameras (who are also sharing data with law enforcement). We, as ordinary residents and citizens, do not have every answer yet, but we are willing and need to ask the questions. It strengthens our communities and our civil liberties to engage in dialogue about protecting our personal freedoms and privacy rights in this digital/AI age. There are many of us on both the Left and the Right that can likely agree that our personal privacy, data, and travel information should not be collected or mass surveilled.

• The citizens of Norfolk, Virginia (population 230,000) are suing the city for removal of 170 Flock cameras, based on what they allege is a violation of their Fourth Amendment Rights. Read their court-filed complaint. 

  1. 1. • • Update: Judge rules the suit can proceed (February, 2025).

          • Court rules Flock cannot intervene in the case. Trial set for October 2025.

Where Are the Cameras?  

See our list of known cameras in Santa Cruz County.

Who is already a supporter of the campaign and how do I get added?

Email us at gtfoscc@proton.me to add your name or organization to our Supporters list. Please clearly state that your entire organization is signing on as a supporter if that is your intention. Otherwise, you will be added as an individual supporter. Thank you!

Let’s Get the Flock Out!

For more information, or to indicate your support, email the campaign at: gtfoscc@proton.me. Please indicate any title, affiliated organization(s), and/or city of residence that you would like listed alongside your endorsement. Thank you for your support!

Your factual corrections or information additions are most welcome.