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Residents urge council to restrict city use of surveillance analytics and camera networks
Summary
Multiple residents raised privacy and civil‑liberties concerns about PlaceAI (metadata analytics) and the Flock camera system during public comment, asking the council to curb city use of the technologies or to seek state/federal restrictions.
During public comment at the Jan. 15 Ridgecrest City Council meeting several residents urged the council to reconsider the city’s use of surveillance analytics and automated tracking technologies.
What speakers said: Mike Veil, a Ridgecrest resident, told the council he opposed the city’s use of PlaceAI (referred to in the meeting as "placer AI") and the Flock license‑plate‑style camera network, saying both collect metadata and create persistent tracking records of people who spend time in public. "Track that data far enough and you know exactly who you're looking at," Veil said, arguing the systems can…
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