ACLU-DE Urges Delaware Towns to Follow Wilmington’s Lead and “Get the Flock Out”

Wilmington, DE — The ACLU-DE sent an open letter to over 20 municipalities in Delaware, urging them to reconsider their use of Flock Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR) cameras. The letter follows city leadership in Wilmington deciding to decommission their Flock cameras after significant public outcry over a lack of privacy protections and the potential to use the cameras for mass surveillance of Delawareans.

“I applaud the Wilmington leadership who decided it was in the best interest of its residents to decommission these creepy and dangerous cameras,” said Mike Brickner, executive director of the ACLU-DE. “Now is the time for other municipalities to take action and ensure every Delawareans is protected against intrusive mass surveillance technology.”

Flock ALPR cameras work by digitally scanning the license plate of people who drive by them, and that data is then stored in a repository. Flock sells access to law enforcement agencies and third-party companies so that they may use that data. There are hundreds of Flock cameras in Delaware currently, meaning this system may have the ability to capture and store every movement of people driving their vehicles throughout a community.

While there is no official central repository for which municipalities utilize Flock ALPR cameras, the ACLU-DE employed the crowd-sourced website DeFlock.org to identify places in Delaware where Flock cameras are deployed. The letter went to over 20 localities, spanning from Newark to Bethany Beach.

In the letter, the ACLU-DE points to multiple incidents of Flock technology being misused, including federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement using the data for immigration enforcement, law enforcement officers stalking exes, and people targeted for exercising protected First Amendment views.

“As with any technology, there can be significant abuses if there are no protections in place. We have seen that Flock cameras in many locations have been used to surveil and violate the rights of people who are simply living their lives,” added Brickner.

Beyond fully decommissioning the Flock cameras, the ACLU-DE suggested regulations that cities or the state could put in place, including limiting how long data is stored, delineating what reasons law enforcement may use the technology, and limiting with whom law enforcement agencies may share the data.

“These cities should take action to protect their residents, but we also believe that this issue may be most effectively addressed with state regulation,” concluded Brickner. “Freedom to live without unwarranted mass surveillance should not depend on your zip code or which way you turn on a road. We need statewide protections to ensure all Delawareans can live in their communities without technology tracking their every movement without their consent.”