Get the Flock Out! Local Mass Surveillance and What to Do

On this episode of Talk of the Bay, host George Cadman welcomes Lourdes and Gabriel Barraza, Ami Chen Mills, Julia Monahan, of Get The Flock Out — a grassroots group raising the alarm about mass surveillance in Santa Cruz County. Also joining the show: Peter Gelblum of the Northern California ACLU, who has been tracking the installation and use of “Flock” cameras in our county for several years.

Their concern? Flock license plate reader cameras, now installed in multiple cities across the county, including Santa Cruz, Capitola, and Watsonville (Watsonville has twice as many as the other two cities). These devices, funded by Department of Homeland Security federal grants, collect billions of travel records that are being shared with ICE, Homeland Security, and police departments nationwide — all with little to no oversight.

GTFO argues these cameras threaten civil liberties and have already been misused — including in a case where a woman was tracked post-abortion by a Texas police agency. The group is calling on local governments to remove Flock cameras, hold public discussions on mass surveillance and how it might be used at this time by various actors, and protect residents’ Fourth Amendment rights.

Want to get involved? Learn how to take action, get informed, and contact your city council.

See many links to resources at the following two sites. (Paid subscription is not required.)

Moment of Truth Dispatch landing page for GTFO.

Essay on Mass Surveillance in the US, also in Moment of Truth Dispatch