Hi Neighbor,
Welcome back to the Deflock Sac Metro newsletter! I think the most interesting piece of information comes out of Bloomington, IN and their city ordinance banning ALPRs and biometric surveillance. Be sure to check that one out below. Elections are only a few weeks away, below we also link information from the county about polling locations and the Secretary of State to register to vote. Who is in office directly effects things like the fight against mass surveillance so do make sure to vote.
We put out a newsletter in your email every 1st and 3rd Friday of the month packed with local and national updates, action items, and upcoming events in the Greater Sacramento area that are from allied organizations or opportunity to interact with local representatives outside of the council chambers. These newsletters will come with scripts and talking points to help you form public comment off agenda. Even when we do not have the ability to have big crowds regularly at city council and board of supervisor meetings, the consistent and persistent comments help lay the groundwork for when the time comes for when the contracts come up.
HOPE:
Let some of these community wins in other cities encourage you to keep the pressure up:
Bloomington, IN: After nearly a 3 hour discussion, city council in Bloomington voted 7-0 to pass an ordinance to prohibit “the City and its agencies from acquiring, operating, or accessing Automated License Plate Reader technology or surveillance cameras controlled or accessed by an external entity.” Their ordinance goes even further to ban city agencies from searching or obtaining ALPR data from other agencies or third party companies, bans cameras that include facial recognition and all biometric surveillance. This ordinance came after the community had been calling for cancellation for almost a year, starting with a rally of about 700 people in January. You can read more about this story here.
At the time of preparing this news letter, 440 contracts have been cancelled since October of 2024. Secure Justice has developed a tracker that is on their website. You can check that out here. These stories show how public pressure can lead to change from the law enforcement offices and the elected officials. Please be inspired by that to continue to pressure our officials to remove all ALPRs from our streets.
REASON:
It seems like every day there is a new article that comes out with a new story of an officer abusing the system, Flock getting caught in another lie, or even confirmations of what we already were aware of. Check out these others:
Sharonville, OH: Police lieutenant Walter Cordes was indicted on felony charges for misusing their Flock system 29 times from December 2024 to April 2026, tracking someone he knew. These abuses were flagged during a department audit of the system and confessed to in an interview with the prosecutor’s office. He is facing up to 12 months in prison. You can read more about this story here.
Athens, GA: Former officer Tyler Vaugh has been fired for his misuse of the ALPR system where he stalked his ex-girlfriend in 2025. This abuse was only discovered after another officer filed a complaint with the department. You can read more about this story here.
Both of these stories highlight just how long abuse and misuse can go on for before they are discovered. How many people need to be victims of this technology before our elected officials are willing to listen to the concerns of the community?
As always, check out the Institute for Justice’s database logging ALPR abuses nationwide for the most up to date information coming out in between newsletters.
Action:
Election day is on November 3rd. You should have already received your ballot by now. Please be sure to return it before November 3rd if you have not already. If you need information on where to drop your ballot, you can find it on the county website, here. If you haven’t registered yet, you can do so all the way up to election day. See more information from the Secretary of State here.
Local Highlights:
There are a lot of really great organizations across the Sacramento Region doing great things. We want to highlight a few for you here. Additionally, there are some city elected officials with opportunities to meet outside of council chambers.
- Sacramento Anarchist Bookfair
- October 17, 2026 10:00 am – 7:00 pm at Flower Fist Market at 1819 E St
- Fighting Flock Surveillance in the Central Valley workshop at 12:30 pm
- Deflock NorCal will be tabling all day
- City of Sacramento: Office Hours with council member Rick Jennings
- October 28th, 5-6 pm
- More information here
Make sure to sign our petitions at https://c.org/XbmBXxLqvg and https://c.org/B2rtgCd29r
In solidarity,
Deflock Sac Metro Community
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