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The Syracuse Common Council is set to discuss the future of license plate reader cameras today following controversy over a data leak from the current vendor, Flock Safety.
The council will meet Monday (February 9) at 1 p.m. at City Hall to consider proposals to sever ties with Flock and potentially switch to Axon Enterprises as the new provider for the city's surveillance system.
The push for change comes after revelations that Flock's database had shared information from Syracuse's cameras with other clients, including federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who have conducted deportation raids across the country, according to WSYR-TV. Flock has denied colluding with ICE and insisted its data is secure.
Syracuse Deputy Police Chief Richard Trudell has been advocating for the switch to Axon, arguing that the new system would ensure data is "solely owned by SPD [Syracuse Police Department], not by the vendor" and protected for every purpose other than investigating crimes within the city.
"To limit our ability to use those best systems only hurts the Syracuse community," Trudell said during a recent presentation to councilors. He emphasized that nearly every homicide case investigated by the department last year utilized footage from the license plate readers as evidence.
The specialized surveillance cameras, which read license plates of vehicles passing by, have been in use in Syracuse since 2024. However, concerns emerged when it was discovered that once a local police department permitted ICE to access its Flock data, the federal agency then gained access to Syracuse's information as well.
Some councilors have expressed reservations about the technology itself. A study published by security firm IPVM found that Flock license plate readers misread the state of 1-in-10 license plates, raising concerns about accuracy and potential civil rights implications.
City attorney Susan Katzoff noted that while Axon's data would be stored in cloud servers operated by the company, the specific terms of any new agreement are not yet publicly available as they would constitute attorney-client privilege until a contract is finalized.
The council meeting today is expected to address both the termination of the Flock contract and the potential adoption of Axon's technology as the city weighs concerns about data security against the investigative value of the surveillance system.