Petition for Termination of Flock Contract and Ethical ALPR Review in St. Louis Park

The Mayor and City Council of St. Louis Park

St. Louis Park needs to reevaluate its deployment of automated license plate readers (ALPRs). ALPRs use cameras and software to capture, analyze, and store vehicle license plate information. ALPR systems compare license plate numbers against databases to generate alerts and create records of vehicle activity. While we recognize the city's intent to enhance public safety, the deployment of this technology—specifically through our contract with Flock Safety—presents critical privacy vulnerabilities and risks eroding the civil liberties of local residents

Flock Safety, the ALPR vendor selected by the City of St. Louis Park, faces documented concerns regarding system reliability, insecure hardware and software, and lax customer-side data controls that leave its platform vulnerable to misuse. Continued reliance on Flock Safety presents significant privacy risks to our residents and operational risks to the city. Recognizing these exact risks, a growing number of cities, including Columbia Heights and West St. Paul, have concluded that Flock’s technology is not the right fit for their public safety strategies.

Furthermore, the current deployment of Flock ALPRs directly conflicts with St. Louis Park’s adopted Vision 4.0 strategic priorities—specifically, fostering “A welcoming, safe community” and practicing “Good governance.” As the city has previously acknowledged, the rollout and operation of this system lacked both the transparency required by state law and the good faith expected by the public. Continuing to rely on a vendor with severe data security vulnerabilities undermines municipal transparency and erodes trust between residents and city leadership.

We are petitioning the City of St. Louis Park to:
1. Terminate the current Flock Safety contract.
2. Require independent technical and ethical reviews of alternative vendors by non-police oversight bodies, such as the Community Technology Advisory Commission or the Police Advisory Commission, prior to any selection.
3. Establish a mandatory public engagement and community input process at the inception of any future surveillance proposals, rather than relying solely on late-stage public comment sessions.
4. Designate a qualified city data steward to oversee, audit, and evaluate the privacy and security impacts of all existing and proposed municipal data collection initiatives.


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Progress in the Park

To: The Mayor and City Council of St. Louis Park
From: [Your Name]

St. Louis Park needs to reevaluate its deployment of automated license plate readers (ALPRs). While we recognize the city's intent to enhance public safety, the deployment of this technology—specifically through our contract with Flock Safety—presents critical privacy vulnerabilities and risks eroding the civil liberties of local residents.

Flock Safety, the ALPR vendor selected by St. Louis Park, faces documented concerns regarding system reliability, insecure hardware and software, and lax customer-side data controls that leave its platform vulnerable to misuse. Continued reliance on Flock Safety presents significant privacy risks to our residents and operational risks to the city. Recognizing these exact risks, a growing number of cities, including Columbia Heights and West St. Paul, have concluded that Flock’s technology is not the right fit for their public safety strategies.

Furthermore, the current deployment of Flock ALPRs directly conflicts with St. Louis Park’s adopted Vision 4.0 strategic priorities—specifically, fostering “A welcoming, safe community” and practicing “Good governance.” As the city has previously acknowledged, the rollout and operation of this system lacked both the transparency required by state law and the good faith expected by the public. Continuing to rely on a vendor with severe data security vulnerabilities undermines municipal transparency and erodes trust between residents and city leadership.

We, the undersigned, petition the City of St. Louis Park to:
1. Terminate the current Flock Safety contract.
2. Require independent technical and ethical reviews of alternative vendors by non-police oversight bodies, such as the Community Technology Advisory Commission or the Police Advisory Commission, prior to any selection.
3. Establish a mandatory public engagement and community input process at the inception of any future surveillance proposals, rather than relying solely on late-stage public comment sessions.
4. Designate a qualified city data steward to oversee, audit, and evaluate the privacy and security impacts of all existing and proposed municipal data collection initiatives.