Another one down thanks to everyone that came out. Bentonville made no votes only received updates.
As Centerton doesn’t have its own Reddit at 6pm Tuesday Centerton has “ALPR and public safety camera system update” as item 13 on the agenda
Centerton has a ring of Flocks around their city enough dropping out kid off at the Junior Hugh has us passing 4 flock cameras alone
1 is on Bentonville’s land
1 is pointing at a playground not the parking lot the playground
1 sits on Bentonville School Grounds of the JHS itself
The other gets anyone coming from Vaughn
Why is this important
Accuracy Problems
Flock claims a 97% accuracy rate, which sounds impressive—until you consider 20 billion daily scans at a 3% error rate yields roughly 600 million misreads per day. A public records analysis released just days ago for Roseville, CA found that 71% of stolen/felony alerts were misreads—alerts that trigger heightened police responses.
Security Vulnerabilities
Flock cameras have appeared repeatedly on security news feeds I follow as a software engineer:
An unpatchable SSID spoofing vulnerabilityexploitable with a consumer travel router—no fix possible without physical device access.
Unencrypted cloud access to Flock Concord PTZ cameras that allowed security researcher Benn Jordan to view footage with no login required.
Also flock was letting Google/Bing/DuckDuckGo index searches with plates and reasons in clear text in the URL
Local Policy Is Effectively Meaningless
When I questioned Centerton PD, I was told they have "a local policy that sets clear guidelines." But once a camera joins Flock's nationwide data-sharing network, any participating agency nationwide can bypass local policies and state laws. That "policy" is worth about as much as the paper it's written on.
No Warrant Required—and Alarmingly Low Barriers
Flock requires no warrant to access data. Public records have revealed the accepted "reasons" for searches include entries as minimal as "." (a single period), "investigation," "suspect," "query," "crime," or "sus." Worse, these powers have been abused:
"Demo" was used to surveil a Jewish community center's children's gymnastics room and pool.
"RV" (residence verification) appeared in 50+ documented cases of police stalking former partners.
Activists, protesters, and individuals tied to political movements (pro-Palestine, pro-Israel, LGBTQ+, anti-Trump, animal rights, immigration-related) have all been tracked.
Even if CPD declines a request, any persistent organization can route through a friendlier agency elsewhere. The weakest link is all that's needed.
Legal Risk to the City
The recent SCOTUS decision in Chatrie v. United States held that bulk location data tied to individuals constitutes a "search" under the 4th Amendment. The legal premise is identical whether tracking a phone IMEI or a license plate. I can't definitively call Flock's ALPR system illegal under this ruling—but neither can anyone definitively call it legal, especially with the Institute for Justice's lawsuit against Norfolk, VA positioned as a likely candidate for SCOTUS review next session.
Investing this much in a system that may be ruled unconstitutional is a significant risk.
Look at the range of “reasons” if you think this is a partisan matter everyone is a possible target.
Please join and support removing Flock from Centerton.
Sign up for speaking ASAP before noon Tuesday
(Link Below)
What was learned from P&R:
• Cameras viewed as good theft deterrent by Park
• Budget for this year include $27k for two locations and last year included 3 locations for $56k which are mostly still pending
• P&R is pro-camera but not necessarily set on Flock
• P&R defer to BPD for vendor selection
Other things we know:
• BPD has two Flock Camera presumably doing ALPR work on mobile speed detection trailer that are presently on SW I (near BCC) & 14th St (Near Clip Clip Hooray)
• Bentonville parks has at least 12 pan-tilt-zoom cameras across parks
• The NE John Deshields Blvd P&R camera may functionally be an ALPR for all east bound traffic heading to parks but also schools.
• BPD and P&R have appealed to local policy as sufficient protection for Flock use but there has been no indication that anyone else on the National Flock network needs to follow out local BPD policies
Remember the City Council are not the enemies they are the ones you are trying to win over. The clearer the facts, the clearer the concerns, and least about of hypothetical that can be read as conspiracy the better. The BPD know this
https://bentonvillear.portal.civicclerk.com/event/1721/files
New Business: 2027 Budget – Capital Requests
Location: 215 SW A Street
September meeting will be an onsite tour at Gateway Park - So they will not meet again until October.