Bridgeport speakers urge council to reject Flock Safety surveillance proposal

Public commenters at a Bridgeport City Council meeting pressed elected officials to reject a proposed contract with Flock Safety and any expansion of police drones and automated license-plate readers, saying the technologies threaten privacy and could be used to target immigrant and Black and Brown residents.

"Safety should not come at the cost of our rights, our privacy or our dignity," Sonia Hernandez, an organizer with Make the Road Connecticut, told the council during the public comment period. She said residents fear the data could be shared or repurposed and urged the council to halt committee consideration of the contract.

Several speakers amplified similar concerns. Meg Dalton, who said she works with Make the Road Connecticut and the Democratic Socialists of America, warned that "mass surveillance always expands beyond the uses for which it is initially justified" and cited reporting that the data produced by similar systems has been used by federal immigration authorities. Liam Conway, a student at Sacred Heart University, urged the council to consider "the youth from the city, especially those who do not look like myself," when deciding whether to adopt surveillance tools.

Speakers named specific risks: the potential for officer stalking, data breaches, criminalization of people seeking reproductive care, and use of commercially held data by federal immigration enforcement. Multiple commenters cited cities that have paused or canceled contracts with Flock Safety and urged Bridgeport to do the same.

On the council floor, Councilwoman Herren said the item "was denied in committee by almost all the members there but one" and described the denial as rooted in a lack of information. She recommended that companies planning to provide such technologies give presentations to the community and to the council so residents and elected officials can "vet and decide what's going on." A motion was made and seconded to have the council act consistent with the committee denial; the transcript records the motion and that a voice vote was called but does not include a roll-call tally or an on-the-record result of the council vote.

Speakers urged alternatives to surveillance spending, including investments in violence-prevention programs, mental-health services and stable housing. Todd Sample, who identified himself as elected co-chair of the Bridgeport branch of the Democratic Socialists of America, told the council that surveillance "erodes social trust and cohesion" and weakens community resilience.

The public comment period also included testimony on other civic topics — from calls for greater civic education to complaints about committee assignments — but the most sustained controversy centered on the proposed contract and the lack of community engagement about surveillance technologies.

Next steps were left open: Council members said the committees had denied the item and recommended community briefings; the transcript records a motion directing that the item be treated consistent with the committee denial but does not capture a recorded vote tally or final disposition on the council record. The council then moved on and adjourned.