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Resident urges removal of Flock cameras, asks council for strict guardrails
Summary
A resident urged the council to end mass surveillance and remove the city's Flock camera system, citing reports of outside access and limited crime‑fighting benefits; he requested dramatic limits on retention and access if the cameras remain.
At the public‑comment portion of the meeting, Jeff Sturgeon urged the council to remove the city’s Flock camera system and to halt further expansion of location surveillance. Sturgeon said publicly released records show local systems can be queried across networks and cited an example he said involved a search spanning thousands of cameras for a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) inquiry. He argued the council had not identified a surveillance emergency that would justify mass monitoring and urged strict local limits if the system remains in place.
Sturgeon asked the council to adopt immediate guardrails — seven‑day retention or shorter, no outside sharing without a judge‑signed warrant for felony investigations, use limited to felony investigations, and full public audit reporting — and warned of misuse and mission creep based on other jurisdictions’ experiences. Mayor Marquez responded that he had said Darien is a safe community and that cameras would make it safer; the exchange remained a public comment rather than a formal policy debate at the meeting.
Councilmembers agreed the topic merited continued public discussion and attention; no ordinance or policy change on surveillance was introduced at this session.
