A growing group of Ithaca residents is voicing concern about the quiet installation and use of Flock Safety surveillance technology by the Ithaca Police Department and Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office — raising alarms over privacy, civil liberties, and lack of public oversight.
In a letter circulated this week, residents from Ithaca’s West Hill neighborhood said they were “alarmed” to discover Flock’s license plate recognition cameras had been installed near their homes without public notification or input.
What the cameras do
Flock Safety is a private company that provides high-resolution license plate readers (ALPRs), gunshot detection devices, and a data-sharing platform that allows law enforcement agencies to scan, track, and store vehicle data. The cameras capture photos of every car that passes, logging the license plate, color, make, and other features. That information is stored in a searchable cloud-based system for 30 days and may be retained longer if used in investigations.
Ithaca and Tompkins County each have at least 22 Flock ALPRs deployed, according to residents who’ve filed public records requests and researched the system. The data collected is reportedly shared with over 100 law enforcement agencies, including departments in Pennsylvania and one federal agency — the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
Privacy and oversight concerns
Residents, including Anne Johnson and members of a local advocacy group working with the Cornell Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Clinic, say they’ve identified three major issues:
- Mass surveillance – Critics argue that widespread vehicle tracking, even in public, raises concerns about long-term monitoring of personal movements. The legal gray area of this practice remains largely untested in courts.
- Data sharing risks – The system allows camera data to be shared across jurisdictions, including with departments in counties that have formal agreements with ICE. Activists say this undermines Ithaca’s status as a sanctuary city and invites the possibility of misuse.
- Expanding technology – Flock’s evolving AI capabilities — including vehicle behavior tracking and integration with internet-connected security cameras — worry advocates, who say this could lead to unchecked surveillance creep.
“There should be widespread public awareness of this technology in our city and a robust community dialogue about how to use it, if it should be used at all,” Johnson wrote in a letter to city and county officials.
Calls for transparency and policy changes
The group is calling on the city and county to pause use of Flock’s surveillance systems until clear guidelines and community-driven policies can be established. Among their recommendations: reducing data retention, limiting or eliminating third-party sharing, storing data locally, and requiring usage audits tied to specific crimes.
While Flock cameras are marketed as a tool to deter crime, some residents argue that the tech is more about data collection than community safety.
“Cameras do not prevent violence and tragedy,” the letter states. “They do not help the poor or the drug-addicted. They generate feelings of suspicion and fear — and they shift how people trust their government.”
Residents interested in joining the advocacy effort or learning more about the technology can access fact sheets, petition links, and contact information for city and county officials through the letter shared with media outlets this week.
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