Taos residents who want automated license plate readers kept off local streets are participating in this week's national effort to raise awareness about Flock's pervasive camera system.
A project called DeFlock has organized people in 460 cities across the country to say "no" to surveillance technology. Last month, the Taos Town Council voted against renewing its contract with Flock, effectively ending the use of 18 automated license plate reader cameras due to citizen privacy concerns.
Darien Fernandez, a member of the council, argued for greater accountability.
"I think it behooves us to work at all levels of government to ensure that our constitutional privacies are protected in the face of these emerging technologies," Fernandez asserted.
The Taos Town Council did not renew the $54,000 Flock contract and reappropriated the funds within the police department budget for an undetermined purpose.
The nationwide day of action comes amid reports of officers exploiting Flock cameras for personal searches, sparking widespread concerns about misuse. Flock recently announced several policy changes to address concerns about its practices.
Charlotte Madueño, social media manager for the advocacy group ProgressNow New Mexico, said automated license plate readers serve as a surveillance database because information collected about a vehicle is shared to a nationwide network.
"Even if you never leave Taos, agencies across the county can search it with AI. We all want safer communities, but there's a big difference between safety and surveillance," Madueño contended.
Flock's network operates across 49 states. In this year's New Mexico legislative session, lawmakers passed the Driver Protection and Safety Act, designed to restrict how local and out-of-state entities can collect and share scanned vehicle data.
