Cancel the Flock ALPR Contract!
Send an email to the Village Board of Trustees and demand that they cancel the Flock ALPR contract.
To Village President Scaman and Village of Oak Park Trustees,
People should be able to move freely throughout Oak Park without being surveilled. As Oak Park community members, we reject the use of carceral technology that disproportionately harms Black residents in our community. It is clear that Flock cameras do not deter crime, mitigate traffic issues, or make our community safer. To the contrary, Flock Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) contribute to greater harm for Black residents, who are already disproportionately impacted by policing in Oak Park. With the Flock contract expiring, Oak Park can choose differently.
On April 4th 2022, Village President Vicki Scaman cast the final “Yes” vote on the Flock Safety contract. In a remarks preceding the vote, the Village President stated that, “I, for one, will have no problem canceling the money spent on eight cameras if it is not helpful or used without contributing to harm.”
It is time to follow through on the Village President’s words and cancel the Flock Safety ALPR contract.
Freedom to Thrive Oak Park’s research shows that Flock Safety’s ALPR cameras are “contributing to harm” in the following ways:
Flock ALPRs disproportionately inflict harm on Black residents who represent 84% of Flock traffic stops, despite Black residents comprising 19% of Oak Park’s population, and 22.8% of Cook County’s population.
The Flock ALPR system is rife with errors. Bad data was responsible for over a third of Oak Park’s Flock traffic stops.
Oak Park typically records more than 300,000 license plate scans every month. The Village has entered into agreements to share this Flock data with municipalities that have a known history of working with ICE, or are hostile to abortion rights. This is in direct conflict with Oak Park’s Welcoming Village and Abortion Sanctuary ordinances.
Oak Park cannot continue to invest a single dollar more into Flock Safety’s ALPR cameras. Instead, the Village should invest these dollars into community-led solutions for safety, like violence interruption programs, enacting a non-police mental health response team, or creating a free bike program for youth.
We know how to keep our community members safe — and it isn’t through the use of carceral technology that harms Black residents here in Oak Park and people seeking immigration or abortion sanctuary in our community. If Chicago can cancel its carceral surveillance contract with ShotSpotter, then Oak Park can cancel the Flock Safety ALPR contract. Village President Scaman and Board of Trustees, it is time to keep the Village President’s commitment. It is time to cancel the Flock Safety ALPR contract.
Signed by: Susan Lucci, Dallis Ellis, Madeline McGuire, Rob Breymaier, Tracey McGee, Rebecca Pries, Shelley Bagri, Bridget Fox, Sue Foran, Trevor Parker, David Bates, Sarah Altier, Neena Hemmady, samantha behensky, Sydney coligan, Jasper Skalla, michael persoon, Ann Titus, Sharmili Majmudar, nikhil trivedi, Jocelyn Meraz, Rachel Wright, Matthew Ash, amisha patel, david gilbert, Liz Lukehart, Cynthia Brito, Kris Stokes, Taiga Larkin, Jim Schwartz, Emily Gage, Zerrin Bulut, Connie Meade, Catherine Barnett, Rebecca Malinowski, Helen Quinn Pasin, Nicole Klosowski, Sarah Sarhan, Juanta Griffin, Robin Kalish, Caren Van Slyke, Yoko Terretta, Joanna Moran, Asra Syed, James Pfluecke, Rosalind Scott, Kim Jackewicz, Amanda Jenkins, Henry Fulkerson, Molly Sackler, Chloe Leach, Jacquelyn Rodriguez, Rachel Wright, nikhil trivedi, Margaret Fulkerson, amisha patel, Michelle Major, Ann Titus, Krissy Baker, Tracy Brunette, Trevor Parker, CANDICE CAMPBELL, Hannah Rand, Ellen Edwards, Shannon Vogel, Bob Rourke, Eva Baldinger, Arden Baldinger, Kari McCarthy, Colette Morrow, Mary Dungy, Molly Besta