After the city council approved a $2.1 million contract with Flock Safety for license-plate readers, cameras and other surveillance tools, more than 50 residents testified about privacy, data security, potential police misuse and warrantless tracking. The council approved the contract 6–4, despite the opposition. Residents then organized the “Get the Flock Out” campaign, held rallies, canvassed across the city and collected approximately 1,600 signatures toward a ballot initiative that would void the contract and prohibit comparable third-party mass-surveillance systems.
Why It Matters
The campaign asks who should decide whether a city adopts technology capable of tracking residents’ movements: elected officials and police, or the public through a direct vote. It also shows people with different political views uniting around privacy, transparency and limits on government surveillance while acknowledging legitimate public-safety concerns. More broadly, Huntington could provide a model for residents elsewhere who want to use public testimony, petitioning and direct democracy to influence how emerging surveillance technologies are governed.