Public comment: Flock cameras support ICE, violate human rights

Presenter: The Human Rights Commission heard public comment Sept. 16 linking the Flock cameras to ICE arrests, as one activist estimated between 100 and 400 people have already been taken in Eugene.

One comment called the city manager unscrupulous and the city was asked what it’s doing to protect its immigrant employees, such as Fabio Andrade, who supports the Human Rights Commission. HRC Chair Dr. Silky Booker:

Dr. Silky Booker (Human Rights Commission): I do have a question, ’cause I know you work closely with us, Fabio, and given you have connections to the Latino community, correct?

[00:00:35] Fabio Andrade (Office of Equity and Community Engagement): Yes, I’m Latino myself. I’m a Latino immigrant.

[00:00:38] Dr. Silky Booker: Have you yourself within your community heard or witnessed an increase in discrimination against Latinos, closely to you, or people that you know it’s affecting?

[00:00:52] Fabio Andrade (Office of Equity and Community Engagement): Yes, I have heard of multiple cases, for example, the number of hate crimes against Latino community members has increased. In at least three cases that we received further details from Eugene Police. They were all connected with anti-immigration conversation going on in the country.

[00:01:12] I attended an event specific to my, like, Brazilian culture, for example, and attendance was half of what it was in previous years. So many people are afraid of coming out for events. We have, like, social media groups just with Brazilians who live in this area and several people are avoiding attending events, for example, because they are afraid.

[00:01:35] Dr. Silky Booker (Human Rights Commission): And I think that’s important. And I ask because with you being close to us and helping us and managing with us, I think it’s important for the people that you work with within city staff to know that one of their own and someone in that—especially in their—community is affected by the racial climate. And you only as strong as your team. And when it affects one person, it affects all.

[00:01:59] And I hope that the city staff you work with take on board how this may affect you and the Latino community. And they’re also eager to help to alleviate any worries you might have given the climate that’s happening right now. Nobody should be afraid to attend any event.

[00:02:22] And the fact that the Latino community is not showing up the way it would show up in previous years, we know it’s due to immigration laws and ICE raids and all of that. And we really need to see what our city is willing to do to protect our citizens. And that’s what I’m not hearing. That’s what I would like to hear.

[00:02:44] And I would like city staff and our city councilors and the mayor to be proactive and actually hearing how they feel about the racial climate and what they plan to do to address it rather than to keep letting the current climate boil over so to speak. So thank you for sharing that.

[00:03:05] I think it’s important because we all we all touch our own communities in different ways, we all have different social circles. And it’s important that when we have these HRC meetings, that we speak for our particular social groups and social circles so that we are aware what’s going on.

[00:03:21] Not to put you on the spot, but I definitely know that you have the heartbeat of the Latino community, you are heavily engaged in in the community and we wanted to know how you felt and how the Latino community is feeling in terms of the given racial climate. So thank you for sharing that. I think that’s important to hear and hopefully we can come up with a plan to address it and be proactive. Thank you, Fabio.

[00:03:45] Presenter: Later in the meeting, during public comment, Jetty Etty:

[00:03:49] Jetty Etty (BFD): I am here, I’m wearing a lot of hats at this right now. I am the founder of the BareFoot Defenders. And so we work alongside with the unhoused and there’s so many things you guys talked about tonight pertaining to that that I feel like I could bring some viable feedback.

[00:04:06] So I’m hoping maybe I can connect with somebody later and give you guys some just some things from the streets that I know that might be helpful.

[00:04:17] I also want you guys to know some of the things that have been happening in our city, as far as like ICE is going. I don’t know if you’re aware but we’ve had (I can’t tell you the exact number) I thought it was over 300 people, but maybe it’s a little less. So I’m going to say anywhere between 100 and 400 people have been kidnapped from our community from the ICE facility, the old federal building here. And one of those people include a 14-year-old disabled child.

[00:04:48] These ICE agents are getting extremely rough with people who are being peaceful protesters who are not blocking. They sent somebody to the hospital. So that’s something that I think that our city needs to be aware of and they’re getting more aggressive.

[00:05:05] I also want to say no Flock in Eugene. I believe that EPD is going to misuse these cameras and specifically for me, like, targeting me as an outreach worker. I have spoken to this commission before about this. There’s some pretty horrible officers that target me and give me charges and I’m concerned about the way that the Flock cameras will be used. So I hope you guys will stand back with us and say no to that.

[00:05:34] I want to also point out that if there’s $500,000 towards replacing CAHOOTS, why are we not just funding CAHOOTS and continuing that? Our city members that use CAHOOTS, they trust them, they don’t trust the city. And I just, I think we really need to consider that.

[00:05:53] Kamryn Stringfield: My name is Kamryn Stringfield. I’m an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation. This is my first time that I’ve come to a Human Rights Commission meeting, but I felt that it was important to come to you today to talk to you about the Flock cameras, which is a human rights issue.

We have seen in many places, including in Oregon, ICE and other federal agencies accessing Flock for immigration purposes.

[00:06:17] Even as Flock says they’ve ended their pilot program with Customs and Border Patrol, the data that they’re compiling about all of us can still easily get in the hands of these agencies and be used for deportations.

[00:06:29] We’re also seeing that ICE and DHS are routinely carrying out deportations without due process, including here in Eugene at the ICE field office at the old federal building, as was mentioned.

[00:06:40] We’ve also seen Flock cameras used to track women who are seeking reproductive health care in another state, as well as police officers using the system to stalk their ex-partners. This system puts women and LGBT+ people at further risk of harm.

[00:06:55] This system is also managed by AI that mismatches license plate numbers 10% of the time, which leads directly to police violence. The system’s algorithm also can decide somebody traveling is suspicious and tag that vehicle for police to pull over, so bringing more unnecessary encounters with the police, which if that’s 10% of the time, that’s not safe.

[00:07:20] And the system also carries a chilling effect (on) First Amendment activities such as protests and we would not have the human rights we do today if it were not for mass protests and civil disobedience.

[00:07:32] Human rights commissioners could even potentially be surveilled and placed on HotLists if you were ever to be opposed to something the police department wanted.

[00:07:40] Flock is a threat to our constitutional rights and therefore also a direct threat to our human rights. It is in the public interest and the Human Rights Commission’s interest to terminate the Flock contract.

[00:07:52] I urge you to send a recommendation to the Eugene City Council to terminate the contract with Flock Safety and remove the Flock surveillance system immediately. And if you want more info on the Flock system that EPD and Flock Safety will not give you, I encourage you to go to EyesOffEugene.org and connect with those people if you want to learn more.

[00:08:13] Presenter: Pete Goldlust:

[00:08:18] Pete Goldlust: Yeah, hi. I’m a father, a small business owner, and I serve on the city of Eugene’s Public Art Committee. I also work with the Rainbow Guard and Trans Alliance of Lane County (TALC), who is tightly aligned with a number of immigrant rights groups.

[00:08:33] So I’m calling also in support of needing to do something immediately about getting the Flock cameras removed. I think probably the most powerful thing that you need to hear about this, I don’t know if you have received a copy of the letter that was sent to the city by the Civil Liberties Defense Center, this is a two-page letter, but I’m just going to give you a couple of quick snippets. They say:

‘This surveillance technology Flock is an unconstitutional dragnet that violates the Fourth Amendment right to privacy, as well as the First Amendment protections for assembly, political organizing, expression without the spying eyes of government monitoring these activities.

[00:09:17] ‘As we understand it, the Flock technology conducts a vast and ongoing data grab of information about people’s coming and goings, their license plate numbers, the make and model of vehicle, bicyclists, pedestrians, dogs and cats, potential facial recognition, and other detailed information.

[00:09:34] ‘Much of this information is highly sensitive, giving rise to concerns about political targeting. Examples include collection of data around immigration-related activities, trans youth seeking health care, and interstate travel for reproductive care.’

[00:09:49] This is a system that, and these are my words now, that is accessible to law enforcement agencies anywhere in the country. So this is really an existential threat to anyone who’s in a vulnerable community.

[00:10:05] This system was inserted basically under the dead of night and the city needs to move quickly to remove it. Every day that it’s up is compromising people’s safety.

[00:10:18] My request to you is to make a strong statement and to act quickly before the city’s work session on Oct. 8 to let them know that you object to the system as a clear violation. It creates a financial liability for the city, although as a human rights organization, I don’t expect that’s first and foremost for you, but it’s an abomination.

[00:10:44] And there were over 100 people, I believe, that came out to the City Council meeting last week to express their displeasure at this across a whole wide range of of communities. This should be top of your radar right now.

[00:11:01] Dr. Geoffrey Gordon: My name is Dr. Geoffrey Gordon, and I work as a clinical psychologist treating adult survivors of trauma, among other problems.

[00:11:07] I beg you to advise City Council to cancel the contract with Flock surveillance company and to remove these intrusive spy sensors from our streets as soon as possible. All of us here have already attended several Eugene Police commission meetings.

[00:11:19] I emailed the HRC with the text of an article titled ‘Flock Safety feature updates cannot make automated license plate readers safe.‘ This article documents how the Flock national surveillance network has already been used in Texas to hunt down a woman for her crimes of self-guided abortion and how informal information requests of local systems nationwide have been used by federal officials to track down immigrants.

[00:11:38] The very design of this nationwide AI dragnet system is such that no possible reforms will make the surveillance system safe for Americans or immigrants. Police Chief Skinner attempted to circumvent public approval with the way the system was purchased, and he has been lying on record to the public and City Council about the capabilities of the surveillance network.

[00:11:55] His promise to negotiate a new contract with Flock is untrustworthy, and regardless, no reforms will make the system safe. Recent EPD press releases have been misrepresenting its utility in recent law enforcement actions because they are trying to cover their asses and make excuses for violating our rights.

[00:12:10] On a related matter, I think HRC should advise City Council that their silence and inaction in the face of a modern Holocaust happening in Palestine is disgraceful. Last year I tried to move City Council towards action by spearheading a campaign for a new ethical investment policy and an empowered citizen review board for city expenditures.

[00:12:27] In fact, we ended up in this current mess with Flock because we do not have an empowered citizen review process in place to protect us from an unscrupulous city manager. The new advisory body that our city manager is personally recruiting now does not have the teeth it needs nor the accountability if it is being selected by the person that signed off on the Flock purchase. Please advise City Council with improved policies. Thank you for your time and free palestine.

[00:12:49] Dr. Silky Booker (Human Rights Commission): Thank you, Dr. Gordon.

[00:12:51] Denise Jessup: I am Denise Jessup and I also am an extremely opposed to the Flock cameras. I urge you to take a stand against them. The cameras were installed without public input and even without the Police Commission’s knowledge. Many cities around the country have removed these cameras. Flock is a national company and is not a safe holder of our community information.

[00:13:13] As Kamryn said earlier, this information has been used by ICE for illegal deportations. As a sanctuary city, Flock cameras do not belong in Eugene. If you’ve not yet seen the 90 minutes of public comment at the Sept. 8 city council meeting, I urge you to watch the recording. As someone else said, there were 100, maybe 150 people there opposed to Flock; 69 people signed up to speak in public comment. Of the approximately 40 that were able to speak in the allotted time, none of them were in support of Flock cameras. All but three spoke against Flock. The other three spoke about different issues.

[00:13:46] The speakers were insightful, highly informed, sometimes actually funny, and very concerned about the camera’s violation of human rights. Please learn more about this horrifying situation and advocate against it.

[00:14:06] Fabio Andrade: Next in line is Ashu Bazuzi.

[00:14:09] Ashu Bazuzi: Hello, I agree with what other commentaries have said about Flock cameras. I’d like to add that other cities have lost great deals of money due to expensive lawsuits following the failures of Flock cameras. I’d also like to say that AI-based systems are subject to the biases of the data that they’re trained on.

[00:14:30] Traffic policing is the data this one’s trained on, I believe. But traffic policing is notoriously racist and, you know, with AI, it’s ‘Garbage in, garbage out.’ If we allow a system based on this racist data to make these decisions in our community, I think we can expect racist results. And that’s all I have to say. Thank you for your time and your work.

[00:14:54] Presenter: HRC Chair Dr. Silky Booker:

[00:14:57] Dr. Silky Booker: Thank you. And public comment is, I feel, is a very powerful keystone part of the work that we do. They are definitely the audience and the people that we are trying to reach and work with, especially to address their concerns.

It seems like every public comment tonight was about the Flock cameras. I know when I was a previous Eugene police commissioner, that was one of the things that I know that we voted against and we spoke out against. And we were assured by police leadership that identity-identifying cameras and facial recognition cameras would not be installed or used.

[00:15:45] I guess a lot’s changed since I’m no longer a police commissioner. A lot’s transpired that I wasn’t aware of. So I guess a lot of those promises or, I don’t want to say promises, but words, their word of not installing these cameras, I guess that wasn’t adhered to and it was voted against in some capacity. I do find this very concerning…

[00:16:11] Yeah, I definitely look forward to hearing from the Homeless and Poverty Work Group and seeing what they come up with, concerning the letter that’s going to be addressed to the City Council and the mayor concerning these Flock cameras. For myself, I’m totally against them, so yeah, I definitely look forward to seeing what transpires out of bringing this to City Council.

[00:16:35] Presenter: The Human Rights Commission is urged to recommend that the city cancel its contract for Flock cameras, as activists report that more than 100 immigrants have already been taken from Eugene by federal ICE agents. Councilors are scheduled to discuss the Flock cameras Oct. 8.