Several people caused a disturbance at a Syracuse Common Council meeting Monday hoping to sway councilors to vote against a contract for new license plate readers. They had concerns about privacy and federal access to the data collected by the cameras.
When councilors reached the item on their agenda, some in the audience tried to weigh in before the vote by yelling from the gallery.
But public comment is not permitted at voting sessions. The disruption continued and police were eventually called to remove two of the protesters.
At issue is a $422,000 contract with Axon to install more than two dozen license plate readers across the city. Lori Frabourgair of Liverpool said it’s gone too far.
“When did America become a surveilled society?" she said from the gallery as others continued to interrupt the council. "Enforcement of common law is not worth the total invasion of privacy.”
Councilor Jimmy Monto said cameras are ubiquitous in society.
"We've seen the stories about facial recognition inside the grocery stores," he said. "We know that when we get on the Thruway, your license plate's being read. We know that when we go anywhere, someone's front doorstep, there's a Ring camera. We're always being watched in a way, but the responsibility is on us as a municipality to make sure that data stays safe.”
Monto said that’s what the city is doing by contracting with Axon and planning to revoke its contract with Flock, which has been sharing data.
Hanah Ehrenreich was the only councilor to vote no. She said she'd heard from a number of constituents on the matter, but adds that the council did it's due diligence.
“The best way forward is to replace the Flock system and to not have a gap in service in terms of what our police department asks for," Ehrenreich said. "That seems to be the reason we've put this legislation together.”
The concerned residents say Axon contracts with the federal government. They worry the data collected by the city could eventually make it to immigration authorities who could use it to target immigrants. Council President Rita Paniagua empathized.
“We are very much aware of what they're going through," she said. "But you just need to present that in the right forum, in the right way, so that your voice can come across and actually be heard. it was just not the right place to do this.”
Paniagua, who is from Puerto Rico, said the council strongly encourages public engagement. She said residents had chances to share their concerns during the study session right before the official vote, or Friday’s committee meeting where the item was discussed at length.
No one from the public spoke up at either meeting.
WHAT LED TO THE OUTBURST?
Concerned Syracuse residents said adding license plate readers could further aid the federal government’s ongoing immigration crackdown. Genevieve Garcia-Kendrick is with Democratic Socialists of America, and said the federal government doesn’t have the ability to conduct mass immigration enforcement on its own.
“The only reason why they're able to do this is because of their contracts with private companies," she said. "If we take away that incentive, we show private companies you cannot come into Syracuse if you are doing this enforcement. We're de-incentivizing companies to do that, and we can start to tick away at the infrastructure.”
She said other cities like Binghamton, Eureka, California, and New Haven, Connecticut have already acted. To try and make their point, protesters shouted at councilors during their meeting, prompting a call to police who removed two people.
Part of their frustration also comes from a lack of communication. After the meeting, some councilors and staff sat down with the protesters. Secretary to the council president Erik Adame tried to understand what happened after residents sent councilors their concerns prior to the meeting.
“I will tell you, I did look for that letter," he said.
“I can show you the sent [email message]," Garcia-Kendrick said.
“I'm sure you did send it. Because I did look for it," Adame replied.
“It would have been nice for you to reach out and say, hey, we didn't get your letter," Garcia-Kendrick said.
While the exchange was civil, Councilor-at-large Rasheada Caldwell chimed in.
“Can we go from this to say, let's have conversations, not yelling at us, because nothing is done when people yell, right?”
Caldwell also reminded the residents they must respect the council’s process.
City officials said only the Syracuse Police Department has access to the data collected by the plate readers and is forbidden to share it with any other agency.
