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Resident criticizes city’s Flock camera program as ‘Orwellian’ during public comment
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Summary
A public commenter accused Wichita leaders of adopting a warrantless mass-surveillance approach through the city’s Flock license-plate camera lease, urged policy change, and said federal agencies have accessed vendor data. City attorney advised the council that campaigning during public comment is generally inappropriate and staff will review forum rules.
During public comment at the April 24 Wichita City Council meeting, Mark Barlow of District 2 sharply criticized the city’s contract with Flock (a license-plate camera vendor), calling the program a "drag net of warrantless mass surveillance" and warning that the vendor’s system, as described in a patent, can classify people by race, gender and other characteristics.
"You're convinced that throwing millions of dollars at this program is better than contracting qualified builders for water treatment, or raising teacher salaries," Barlow told the council. He said watchdog groups have documented cases of federal agencies accessing Flock data in other cities and alleged a high percentage of outside queries into Wichita's system.
After the comment, the city attorney addressed whether political campaigning is allowed during the public agenda period. The attorney said the public agenda is a limited forum and that political speech can occur, but political campaigning is generally not the forum’s purpose; staff will evaluate ordinances and consider clarifying language in the future.
Councilmembers and the mayor did not take formal action on the Flock program at the meeting. The item remained a matter for future discussion and potential ordinance refinement.
Key claims and responses: Barlow alleged that third-party access to vendor data is common and that Flock systems can profile individuals; the city attorney acknowledged questions about scope of permissible public-comment speech but did not substantively address the technical claims about vendor access during the meeting. The council did not adopt new policy on Flock cameras at this session.
Sources: Public comment by Mark Barlow; city attorney response during the April 24, 2026 meeting transcript.
