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Resident urges Menlo Park to cancel Flock Safety license-plate reader contract, citing privacy and ICE ties
Summary
A Menlo Park resident urged the council to agendize cancelling the city's contract with Flock Safety, arguing the vendor collects extensive data and has ties to federal agencies; the comment cited other cities that have severed contracts and quoted an email from Flock's CEO calling activists "normalize lawlessness."
During public comment the City Council heard from Scott Hirscher, who identified himself as a San Mateo County rapid responder, organizer with a local activist group called The Wolves and a Menlo Park resident. Hirscher urged the council to agendize cancelling Menlo Park’s contract with Flock Safety, the vendor that supplies automated license-plate readers and related AI analysis.
Hirscher framed the concern as a tension between sanctuary-city policies and surveillance technology. "The issue instead is given the type and volume of data Flock collects, is it worth sacrificing our privacy for? Particularly given Flock's known collaborations with DHS and ICE," he said. He cited a recent trend in which more than 30 U.S. cities, including Santa Cruz, had moved to shut off Flock devices.
Hirscher also said Flock CEO Garrett Lingley sent customers an email characterizing activist groups as attempting to "normalize lawlessness," a characterization Hirscher described as "despicable and Orwellian." He called on the city to "put sanctuary over surveillance" and to cancel the contract.
Council did not respond substantively at the time beyond hearing and including the remarks in the public record; the item was a public-comment appeal and no staff action or agenda item on Flock Safety was scheduled that evening.
