Safety Not Surveillance Press Conference

Safety Not Surveillance Coalition Demands More from The City of Columbus; Safeguards Simply aren’t Enough

Community coalition calls for immediate removal of Automated License Plate Reader cameras across Central Ohio, citing documented ICE data access and harm to immigrant communities

The Safety Not Surveillance Coalition, a group of community-based organizations who formed to coordinate anti-Flock organizing in Central Ohio and build a strategy to decrease surveillance in our communities, issued urgent demands on Monday, August 10th ahead of a City Council hearing: the immediate cancellation of all contracts with Flock Safety and the rapid dismantling of its Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) camera network throughout Central Ohio.

On Monday, August 24th, organizers with the People’s Justice Project (PJP) who are members of the coalition disrupted a council meeting to hand deliver over 700 signatures from PJP’s Safety Not Surveillance Petition–demanding that we will not be ignored. We have played by the rules of political theatre by testifying in council meetings and yet the so-called decision makers have not listened to a word we’ve said. And so, a direct action of hand delivering petition signatures while interrupting a meeting had to be done.

Decision makers will be held accountable for the harm that is caused due to participating in the surveillance state. Mayor Andrew Ginther announced on Thursday, September 3rd that the city will be pausing usage of Flock cameras due to evidence of a Columbus police officer misusing the cameras for personal reasons. The next day Columbus announced new policies for Flock cameras. Although the Mayor has “paused” the use of Flock, the cameras are still up and our petition is still open.

The policies announced are almost entirely things they have said in the past. Safeguards and policies simply aren’t enough. We cannot trust a corrupt and unjust system, like the police, to follow the honor system. Our fight is far from over and the Safety Not Surveillance Coalition will return to City Hall on Monday, September 14th for a press conference.

Power truly lies in the hands of the people and we will demonstrate that through the efforts and organizing we have done as a collective.

Mayor Andrew Ginther’s new guidelines do absolutely nothing to address the root cause of mass surveillance. Despite the Columbus City Council and Mayor’s pivot in public opinion on Flock cameras, we cannot trust that the cameras will no longer be used for nefarious purposes. Our fight continues until all demands are met.

SAFETY NOT SURVEILLANCE COALITION DEMANDS

1.   Cancel all existing contracts with Flock Safety immediately. 

2.   Cover the cameras immediately and dismantle them as soon as possible.

3.   Do not replace Flock with other ALPR cameras or surveillance technologies.

STATEMENTS FROM COALITION MEMBERS

“Mayor Ginther's decision to "pause" the flock contract instead of cancelling it outright is a simple ploy to try to stifle the militancy and righteous anger that the masses have towards mass surveillance. A "pause" simply means they can reactivate the contract at any time, and the "guardrail" legislation that Councilman Remy is planning on proposing will simply promote a veneer of safety. Guardrails and contract pauses are not enough, the City of Columbus must cancel all existing contracts with Flock, including both the cameras and the surveillance software, and all existing ALPRs must be dismantled, the usage of all ALPRs, not just Flock, must be banned, including all private contracts, and no contracts for any further surveillance technology should be approved, and the people should live free of constant state surveillance, our right to privacy must be protected!”

— People’s Defense Columbus

“While we are, in part, relieved that some of the Flock cameras in Central Ohio are at least temporarily getting bagged, we remain alert to the reality that the state of surveillance infrastructure in this city continues to expand with very little input from the public. Moreover, while we appreciate that misuse by one police officer was named by Mayor Ginther as the reasoning behind the operational pause on the cameras, we are alarmed by the disregard and downplaying of the systemic failures of the technology. Those systemic failures include both their function as critical infrastructure in the ICE abduction pipeline and, as we learned last week with the death of Pierre Damas Bel, the role aggressive surveillance technology plays on the mental health of heavily surveilled communities. The cumulative PTSD, terror & paranoia our immigrant neighbors are experiencing deserves not just attention, but thoughtful and long-term action.” 

— 614 ICE Watch (Contact: 614RRmain@proton.me)

Central Ohioans are done being watched, tracked, and targeted. Coalition partners will continue to organize, canvass, and build community power until Flock cameras are removed from our streets. Safety not surveillance.

Coalition Members Include:

Asian American Midwest Progressives/AAMP Ohio

Queer for Abolition Futures

People’s Defense Columbus

Equality Ohio

People’s Justice Project

Honesty for Ohio Education

614 ICE Watch

OPAWL - Building AAPI Feminist Leadership

Common Cause Ohio

Columbus CPUSA

The Ohio State University Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP-OSU)

DeFlock Upper Arlington

Schools Drop ICE

Columbus Democratic Socialists of America, City Council Non-Cooperation Campaign

Trans Experimental Action

Say NO to the surveillance state by signing our petition.