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Hundreds of residents press Caldwell council to reconsider Flock AI surveillance program
Summary
Dozens of citizens urged the council to remove or pause the city's contract with Flock AI camera systems, citing privacy, potential for mission creep and cybersecurity exploits; petitioners said more than 1,200 signatures were submitted and multiple speakers warned of legal challenges if the program continues unchanged.
A sustained public-comment block at the July 6 Caldwell City Council meeting focused on the city's contract with Flock, an AI-enabled camera vendor. Dozens of residents pressed elected officials to halt renewals, require stricter limits, or remove the cameras from public rights-of-way.
"You'll be watched by cameras that can be remotely accessed and enhanced with AI tools that are still unregulated," said Sven Olsen, who opened the public concern with cybersecurity claims and a call to reconsider the council's decision to adopt the Flock system. Multiple speakers described the cameras as more than license-plate readers: they alleged facial-recognition, voice-recognition and broader data collection on public activity, and expressed fears of mission creep and federal access.
Speakers said they had organized petitions and legal scrutiny: Matthew Taniguchi delivered a petition with nearly 1,200 signatures (over 400 from Caldwell), and other speakers described plans for legal notices and potential litigation. Several commenters asked the council to instruct staff to pause contract renewals, pursue a citizens' advisory committee to define acceptable surveillance uses, or require Flock to remove on-street cameras pending a review. "We need a vision to use this technology in public spaces before there's a crisis," one resident said.
Supporters of removing the cameras cited specific privacy and civil-rights concerns and urged stronger public involvement. Some speakers, including civil-rights and constitutional-law advocates, framed the cameras as a Fourth Amendment risk and warned that aggregated historical location data could be misused.
Council members acknowledged the volume of testimony and said staff would record the input for follow-up. The council did not take immediate legislative action at the meeting; multiple residents asked the council to consider a formal review of the contract or to require return of cameras and termination of the system if terms are not strengthened.
The record shows robust community concern about surveillance policy, along with requests for clearer controls and transparency from the vendor and the police department. Council and staff will likely need to respond in future meetings with legal, procurement and civil-privacy analyses and any proposed contract modifications.
