ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties Launches Petition Calling on the City of San Diego and Mayor Todd Gloria to "Get the Flock Out”

SAN DIEGO - The ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties (ACLU-SDIC) has launched a petition calling on the San Diego City Council and Mayor Todd Gloria to “Get the Flock Out” and cancel all of San Diego’s Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) contracts, including those with Flock Safety, the company that owns and operates the city’s ALPR system.

The City of San Diego is currently using taxpayer funds for the San Diego Police Department’s ALPR system, an invasive, around-the-clock mass surveillance technology that collects a massive trove of that reveals intimate details of a person’s life. This information demonstrates travel patterns of individuals as they go to work, drop their children off at school, or attend a house of worship, doctor’s office or protest.

The ACLU has been working for more than a decade (read the full “You Are Being Tracked” report from 2013) to increase transparency and accountability for how ALPR cameras are being used. There is a nationwide effort to fight back against these surveillance systems, with communities across the country successfully advocating to get rid of this invasive technology.

This past December, the ACLU-SDIC gave public testimony in opposition to the city’s contract with Flock. This spring, the ACLU-SDIC again called on city council to end their Flock contracts and redirect millions of dollars to youth programs, libraries, parks and other services and resources that support our communities.

“Everyone in this country has the right to move freely without being surveilled, to associate where and with whom they choose, and to be protected against unreasonable searches,” says Nalini Gupta, ACLU-SDIC policy director. “In a moment where civil rights and liberties are being attacked on a national stage, San Diego must invest in people, not surveillance and criminalization.”

“We live in a country where families are being ripped apart by masked agents, immigrants and trans folks are being villainized by the federal government, and people are being prosecuted for simply seeking health care,” says Branden C. Sigua, ACLU-SDIC senior policy advocate. “The City of San Diego’s ALPR system is a dangerous tool which can aid this harmful agenda, and we will not concede our constitutional rights, now or ever.”

The ACLU-SDIC invites everyone in San Diego to sign the petition before the city’s public safety committee hearing on August 19 and make it clear to the City of San Diego that it’s time to “Get the Flock Out.” The petition can be found at bit.ly/ALPR-petition. To learn more about the ACLU-SDIC’s work, visit www.aclu-sdic.org.