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Residents press council to review Flock ALPR contract and oppose data centers over water, privacy and environmental concerns
Summary
Dozens of residents urged the council to reconsider approved Flock ALPR camera installations and to resist data-center development, citing privacy, legal and water-supply risks; the city manager read a vendor statement denying data-sharing with federal agencies without local consent.
A lengthy public-comment period at the Twentynine Palms City Council meeting focused on two recurring concerns: opposition to Flock automated license-plate-reading (ALPR) cameras and worries about prospective data-center projects.
Multiple speakers said Flock systems enable mass surveillance and may violate Fourth Amendment protections. Heather Drake (speaker 16) urged the council to "reconsider their contract with Flock," citing recent court discussion and the Carpenter precedent, and noted litigation in other jurisdictions. Several speakers raised security and misuse concerns and cited incidents documented elsewhere of data exposure and internal misuse.
Other residents opposed data-center development on environmental and resource grounds. One public commenter (speaker 26) summarized reporting that a proposed center could require large volumes of water and cited a KPBS figure of "750,000 gallons of water each day," arguing that such consumption would be unsustainable in the Morongo Basin and would offer limited long-term local jobs.
A technology-security speaker (speaker 28) described alleged operational problems with Flock and said many jurisdictions have terminated contracts, citing potential data sharing and exposures. Many speakers called for contract review, moratoria or outright bans of data centers and for removal or suspension of ALPR systems until legal and privacy issues were resolved.
City manager Stone (speaker 3) responded by reading a statement from the vendor included in staff communications: "Flock does not have a contract with US Immigration and Customs or any sub agencies of the Department of Homeland Security. Flock does not share customer data with any federal agency without a local customer's explicit choice and control." The manager said staff would continue to monitor litigation related to ALPR systems and that a court decision in a Norfolk case required further review.
No formal council action on Flock cameras or data centers was taken at the meeting; speakers asked the council to consider further review and public engagement.
