Flock Safety

I know you can't speak to other departments.

Captain, but what is it about Overland Park where you control the data? Explain what that means where we've seen other systems, specifically with Flock, where we're getting 200,000 searches into Kansas City, Kansas from a department in Houston.

What is different about Overland Park's system? So specifically in Overland Park, when we first started this program back in 2011, cloud really wasn't a thing as far as a commercial base goes anyway.

So there wasn't an option for us to store this data in a vendor's cloud.

can't speak to other departments.

Captain, but what is it about Overland Park where you control the data? Explain what that means where we've seen other systems, specifically with Flock, where we're getting 200,000 searches into Kansas City, Kansas from a department in Houston.

What is different about Overland Park's system? So specifically in Overland Park, when we first started this program back in 2011, cloud really wasn't a thing as far as a commercial base goes anyway.

So there wasn't an option for us to store this data in a vendor's cloud.

I mean, think about it like this.

We got these Flock and Axon cameras popping up all over around our country.

But why don't you just put them on the border instead? This isn't that complicated.

And the thing is, they make things so complicated.

And like, once I went through the whole process, you know, I was like nervous going and doing it, but like, After doing it, I was like, oh, I'm going to bother these people every month.

So, and I think what was most exciting was I wasn't the only one there talking about Flock.

Like, no surprise, everyone hates it.

So there were like a couple other people who were asking that the city council make some changes.

And then there was a police chief who gave a report after we spoke who was trying to essentially convince the city council to extend the Flock contract.

Right.

But in his report, he was also had to share a bunch of like issues with flock.

For more information, visit redcrossblood.org, call 1-800-RED-CROSS, or use the Red Cross Blood Donor app to schedule a donation appointment.

Flipping back to page one of the most current Union Sun and Journal issue of Tuesday, October 27, 2026, is this headline, Council to Consider Flock Measure.

There's a flock camera.

There's a photograph showing the camera being installed.

The sub-headline says, Resolution to revoke approval is on Wednesday's agenda as aldermen question the system's security.

Article by Heidi Trischell-Light.

A resolution to revoke the city's approval for Flock cameras is on the agenda for Wednesday's Common Council meeting.

Catherine Fogle, 4th Ward Alderman, said she proposed the action because of concerns about the security of Flock's data system.

We have an entire industry, the data broker industry that sells data to the government.

We have all sorts of technologies that are gathering information such as Flock, which is reading license plate and gathering that information.

So we've got a world of surveillance and now we have this very impactful case.

What are the implications of it? And so I'd like to begin by just asking what you can just sort of talk a little bit about Chantry and what basically happened in Chantry and what did the court hold in it? Andrew, if you don't mind kind of telling us what that's all about.

California was, right? There's something about these funny little devices that have captivated Chief Justice Roberts and others.

And so I think the first time there's a case involving records created like flock in your car or something um there'll be a little pressure there'll be a little opening for the government to say no no these were the smartphone cases smartphones are different and it's hard to predict whether that will fly i don't think that'll fly but it's hard to predict

Well, speaking of that, you mentioned Flock, you mentioned Fly, so let's do Flock.

Flock is a technology, an ALPR technology, which is basically license plates reading.

that's

right cameras to do immigration raids up in washington and in the pacific northwest yeah They claimed, and by they I mean the company Flock, Flock claimed, well, we've never had any sort of program that gives ICE access to our cameras or our data sets.

Court records found that that was untrue, that they had a pilot program.

And when they had that pilot program, they had just lied about it to the public.

And then following that, they're like, oh, well, we've canceled that pilot program, and now ICE doesn't have any access to our cameras whatsoever.

And then it was subsequently discovered by court records and journalists again that ICE had been going to local police departments and getting them to do the searches for them on their behalf.

And then Flock came out and said, okay, well, they don't do that anymore.

The police departments got reasonably a bunch of pushback from their communities because they don't want ICE using this technology that spies on them constantly.