UALC Campaign to get Flock off campus

Flock cameras are automated license plate readers (ALPRs) created by the private company Flock Safety and contracted primarily to law enforcement agencies. While claiming to aid in criminal investigations, their efficacy is exaggerated, and they have consistently been misused by law enforcement, led to wrongful arrests, and created privacy concerns across the country.

Flock has been putting up cameras in Tuscaloosa since 2022. At least 7 are on campus, most of which have gone up within the past year or so.

Sign our petition for UA to end their contract with Flock Safety and remove the cameras from campus!

More information:

Wrongful arrests

• Woman wrongfully arrested in deadly I-4 crash speaks out after charges dropped
• A Flock license plate reader linked a San Diego man to a violent crime. He was five miles away.
• Florida woman spends 13 days in jail after AI-powered camera evidence led to wrongful arrest
• and many more

Misuse by cops

• 3 Charlotte cops resign after group chat reveals competition to arrest the most Black people
• Police Accused of Misusing Flock Cameras Across 12 States
• Flock Safety and Texas Sheriff Claimed License Plate Search Was for a Missing Person. It Was an Abortion Investigation.
• A Sedgwick, Kansas, police chief who used Flock Safety license plate readers to track his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend’s vehicles 228 times over more than four months, and used his police vehicle to follow them.
• A Bonner Springs, Kansas, detective who used Flock license plate readers to stalk his wife.
• A Niceville, Florida, officer who used Flock to track a fellow officer and that officer's spouse.
• A Milwaukee police officer who used Flock to track a woman he was dating and her ex-partner nearly 180 times over a two-month period.
• A Louisville, Kentucky, officer who was charged with multiple felonies after allegedly using the city’s Flock system to track an ex-partner and her friends hundreds of times over two months.

Legality

• Norfolk judge rejects police Flock camera evidence without warrant
  • In 2024, a circuit court in Virginia ruled that evidence obtained by Flock cameras constituted a search under the Fourth Amendment and thus could not be used without a search warrant.

Where people are resisting the presence of Flock

• Map Shows 149 Cities Pushing Back Against Flock Cameras
• Cancellation tracker
• Emory University removes Flock safety from campus