To Whom It May Concern,

DeFlock Lansing is celebrating Lansing City Council’s decision last night to pass a resolution requesting the city administration and Lansing Police Department terminate their contracts with Flock Safety. We joined the chorus of 87 different neighbors who came together at the meeting Monday, August 24, to express support for Councilmember Ryan Kost’s resolution, and thank the council for their 7-1 decision to pass. 

We heard voices last night that expressed concerns for privacy, for personal safety, from voices that were concerned about a lack of transparency from both LPD and Flock, and the potential misuse of the data that their ALPR cameras collect. We heard concern for our immigrant neighbors, from our racially profiled neighbors. We heard from data scientists, from teachers and students, from community members across the political and demographical spectrum. We heard from Congressional candidate Will Lawrence. All spoke in support of passing this resolution, and the further steps that need to be taken by the Mayor for the immediate removal of Flock’s ALPRs. 

We also heard conflicting information from Lansing Police Chief Robert Backus. 

Backus stated that LPD had opted out of the data sharing feature that is integral to the function of the vast network of ALPRs across the country, the feature that allows other police departments and federal agencies like ICE who act through them to perform warrantless tracking. Councilmember Ryan Kost responded with printed documents from haveibeenflocked.com, showing that his own vehicle had been the target of at least two separate searches by out of state law enforcement, as recently as last year. Backus was unable to answer the question of when, exactly, this supposed opt-out had occurred, and was unable as well to answer Councilmember Deyanira Nevarez Martinez’s questions of how many crimes, exactly, Flock’s ALPRs had actually assisted in solving since their adoption by LPD in 2024. 

Clearly, this resolution represents a step forward in the name of transparency and accountability from our elected officials, but we are not losing sight of this: it is just the first step. We call upon the Mayor and LPD to abide by this nearly unanimous vote, and to immediately cease use of Flock’s ALPRs in our public right of way.

We also call on City Council to go further, and to vote upon an ordinance that ensures this AI-powered mass surveillance technology is never again deployed in Lansing, from any other manufacturer or operator, at any time. We will be keeping up the pressure until our calls are met. Respect the voices in the room last night, and to those who were there in support, we thank you, and look forward to the REAL win - when these cameras come down!

DEFLOCK LANSING