Flock Call Scripts for Municipalities
Tips for Calling your City/Town Representatives
Do your research on Flock and the problems with AI-assisted ALPR cameras. Review our Flock Off FAQ and recent blog posts about Flock. You can also find great information from the ACLU of Massachusetts’ Get the Flock Out Resource Guide. Indivisible has provided scripts for discussing ALPR concerns with local governments.
Know your city/town’s ALPR status. Are there currently cameras present in your city/town? How many are there? When were they installed? Has there been any press coverage about them?
Check deflock.me.
Check local news sources and government social media accounts to see if anything has been published or posted about the cameras.
Eyes Off MA’s Deflock your City section has been collecting information about efforts and results in various cities and towns. See if your city/town is represented.
Find out who the executive authority in your city/town is. Cities have a city council. Towns have a select board. Indivisible recently provided guidance for locating contact information for municipal governments.
Do your research on the elected official you’re contacting.
Look at their social media, voting record, and campaign site. What is important to them?
Maintain a calm, collected demeanor.
Act like you and the elected are on the same side. Make your message personal.
Consider which Flock/ALPR concern might land best with the official you are calling. There are many concerns to choose from! Would they be most receptive to hearing concerns about Flock data being misused to track immigrants and people seeking reproductive healthcare? Personal privacy? Civil liberties? Cybersecurity concerns? City/town liability if a problem occurs? Your support in upcoming elections?
Be prepared to follow up with resources via email, if the official has questions.
Sample Call Scripts
If your town has Flock cameras
Hello,
My name is ___________ and I’m a resident of ____________. I’ve lived here for ______ years. I’m calling regarding [our town/city]’s contract with [Flock Safety/other vendor] for town-wide AI-assisted Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) cameras. There are [#] in [city/town]. As you may be aware, ALPR cameras present a number of concerns with respect to personal privacy and civil liberties. Flock Safety has been under particular scrutiny due to their lack of transparency, data ownership and data sharing policies, and cybersecurity vulnerabilities. As a [city/town] resident, I urge you to cancel the town’s contract with Flock Safety. Additionally, our city/town needs strong democratic oversight for this sort of technology via bylaw in order to prevent a similar issue in the future. Thank you for supporting the residents of [city/town]. I am happy to provide you with additional resources via email.
If your town does not yet have Flock cameras
Hello,
My name is ___________ and I’m a resident of ____________. I’ve lived here for ______ years. I’m calling to preemptively voice my strong opposition to the use of ALPR cameras from vendors such as Flock Safety in [city/town]. Our city/town needs strong democratic oversight for this sort of technology via bylaw. Thank you for supporting the residents of [city/town].
Other Ways to Voice your Opposition
Email your police department, city council, or select board with your concerns. The ACLUMA Action Team has a quick link to email your municipal leaders.
Attend and provide comments during a city council or select board meeting. Cities and towns post their meeting schedule on their website. You do not need to be on the agenda to comment as most meetings will have time allotted for resident comments. Practice your elevator pitch before you go, and, better yet, grab a buddy or two to come with you! Bonus points: if the meeting is recorded for social media, spread it around!!
Sport some Flock Off merch.