The South Tucson City Council voted to "immediately terminate" its contract with Flock Safety, a license-plate reader company that has recently come under fire for sharing data it collects with law enforcement officials across the country who used it for immigration-related searches.
The council voted 5-1 Wednesday to end the city's contract with the camera company. Vice Mayor Melissa Brown-Dominguez voted against ending the contract, while council member Paul Diaz abstained.
Ahead of the vote, South Tucson Police Commander Raul Navarro said the city was one year into a two-year agreement with Flock Safety. Through its contract, the square-mile city had a 10-camera system, with five "fixed video" and five license plate reader cameras across five locations, Navarro said.
Local police around the country searching for information in Flock's AI-powered automatic license plate reader system for immigration-related searches has been a major concern.
According to a 404 Media investigation published in May last year, the Flock system had been giving federal law enforcement "side-door access" to a tool it did not have a formal contract for at the time.
Navarro said Wednesday that South Tucson Police currently shares information with Oro Valley Police and University of Arizona Police. It also recently began sharing information with the Pima County Sheriff's Department as part of the Nancy Guthrie investigation.
The South Tucson City Council voted Wednesday to cancel its contract with Flock Safety, a license-plate reader company that has cameras across the Tucson metro area, including around the University of Arizona campus. Council members cited concerns about how law enforcement agencies share information that's collected.
A few council members said Wednesday, ahead of the vote, that the city's contract with Flock Safety sparked a contentious discussion within the community. Some residents have been concerned over the use of South Tucson's information in the federal government's immigration crackdown, while others said they want police officers to have the tool to assist in investigations.
A petition, which gathered 64 signatures, was submitted to the council during a previous meeting, Brown-Dominguez said ahead of the vote, with those who signed wanting to keep the cameras in use.
"There are only a few people that have access in our department, and that data is not to be shared unless there is a warrant. And at this time, I understand the fear, but I also need to listen to what our residents want in this community," she said. "This is a very contentious topic, but I just want to remind my fellow council members that our residents matter and their opinions matter, their safety matters.
"We need to trust our police department," Brown-Dominguez said about law enforcement agencies sharing information.
Councilman Cesar Aguirre said that, although he's against the use of Flock Safety cameras in South Tucson, he's not against camera use in general. But it's the control of that data which concerns him the most.
"There's real concerns right now, especially with the overreach of the federal administration. We know that our data isn't safe regardless of what courts pass what . . . Our government doesn't need a warrant to get that data, it's already been proven that they just go in and get it. They take it," Aguirre said. "I'm a huge believer in the First Amendment, the freedom of the press, I believe we should all be recording, all the time. But what I am against is large corporations controlling the data, and having our images, and our lives, and being able to access that anytime they want and give it to whoever they want."
Council member Dulce Jimenez said that while cameras are a vital tool for South Tucson's law enforcement capabilities, "the cost of mass surveillance is just too great."
"We cannot be naive, we cannot be passive and we cannot be complacent. We have to protect our communities and we have to do it now," Jimenez said.
