After months of legal wrangling, the City of Syracuse has taken the rare step of ending an agreement with a company that installed license plate readers.
Common councilors wanted to revoke the 2024 contract with Flock Group over concerns that the company was collecting and sharing data that could be used by federal immigration enforcement.
Councilor Jimmy Monto says he wants to protect residents from a cascade of legally questionable actions.
“Our job is to make sure we are not tracking human beings (who) are driving to union meetings or taking their children to school," Monto said. "Our job is to follow due process. That means we don't bust through doors without warrants.
"That means when someone gets abducted from their house, they have due process. They actually have to go in front of a judge.”
While the Flock cameras may come down, another set of license plate readers owned and operated by Axon are going up.
The council approved that agreement last month and were assured that data collected by the closed system would only be accessed by Syracuse Police.
