Feb 24th, 2026 Update

Thank you to everyone who came out to speak, support, and stand together!

What Happened at the Feb 24th Rally/Public Comment?

Many of us signed up for public comment.
Due to a packed agenda, our comments were pushed to the end of the meeting. Some stayed for nearly three hours. That commitment means everything.

Where Things Stand
City Council publicly stated they do not intend to renew the current Flock contract. They also said any future surveillance technology would involve a public process. There is no written agreement or defined process for how this would happen. We think there should be a concrete plan.

What This Means
While it appears Flock cameras may not be reinstalled, surveillance technology doesn’t disappear — it often reappears under new names.
That’s why we’re focused on long-term protections.

Our Primary Goal
We’re pushing for a legally binding ordinance that protects our community from invasive and rapidly evolving surveillance technologies — now and in the future.

Temporary wins are not enough.
We want lasting safeguards!

The Work Continues
Flock cameras remain at some private locations (Home Depot and Lowes) in Olympia. AI-enabled surveillance cameras are being proposed at the county level at the Voter Registration Center. There will be more opportunities to organize, speak out, and shape our community together.

Stay Involved!
This movement belongs to all of us.
You have agency.
Community action works — and we’re just getting started.

Come through to Olympia’s city hall on Feb 24th at 5:30pm public comment to DEMAND the City of Olympia cancel their contract with Flock, ban all ALPRs in our city, and say no to future AI surveillance!

If you don’t want to participate in public comment, there will be a rally outside with food, chants, and more! Bring signs, chants, and energy!

In Minneapolis, legal observers are being put on domestic terrorist lists via the use of AI facial recognition cameras in their city, lets take action to keep our community safe from state repression! Keep the cameras down!

Olympia Joins Growing List of De-Flock Victories – But Looks Forward

Dec. 5, 2025

The community-driven movement to “DeFlock Olympia” has secured a significant win in the fight against AI-driven surveillance. On December 2, 2025, after weeks of sustained and growing public pressure, the Olympia City Council voted to temporarily suspend the city’s contract with Flock Safety and halt all operations of its automated license plate reader (ALPR) camera network. By the morning of December 3, cameras across the city had been covered with “hoods,” pending official removal. This step marks a suspension—not a permanent end—to the contract. Continued community pressure will be necessary to ensure the cameras are removed and never reinstalled.

This victory also marks a turning point in a broader effort. The DeFlock movement is also encouraging the city to evaluate the presence of privately operated Flock cameras installed at businesses such as Home Depot and Lowe’s. The group plans to advocate for a citywide policy discussion about banning this type of surveillance technology within Olympia, regardless of whether it is publicly or privately owned.

The need for regional solidarity remains critical. Communities in Shelton, Lacey, Tumwater, Tacoma, and Aberdeen are facing similar surveillance expansions. As long as Flock cameras operate in neighboring cities, the network can still track the movements of people in Olympia and throughout the South Sound. Many nearby police departments have weaker protections for ALPR data and may knowingly or unintentionally share information with federal agencies or hundreds of external networks. Olympia’s DeFlock movement encourages residents across the region to organize, collaborate, and support efforts to remove these systems everywhere they appear.

While Olympia’s suspension is a significant milestone, it is only the first stage in a longer campaign to permanently remove AI surveillance technology from the South Sound. Residents in Lacey, Tumwater, Shelton, or Aberdeen who would like support in hosting a DeFlock informational event can reach out at deflockoly@proton.me.

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Nearly 200 community members attended a counter-information rally outside Olympia City Hall on December 2 to demand this outcome. The rally combined research sharing, hot food, singing, and chanting as the City Council met inside to hear a presentation from the interim police chief. Olympia Police Department’s briefing promoted the supposed benefits of Flock’s system but also repeated several false or misleading claims. Community members countered these point-by-point with detailed, cited research.

Among OPD’s claims was the assertion that Flock data does not contain “personally identifiable information.” In reality, these cameras capture not only license plates and driving patterns, but bumper stickers, racks, and dents. According to Flock’s own website, the AI powered microphones are expanding their recognition of sounds. Investigative reporting shows Flock cameras and AI are trained to detect license plates, vehicles, and people, including clothing, and a leaked Flock patent mentions detecting “race” (404media). Recent reporting has also revealed that Flock is building a massive “people search” tool by linking ALPR data with large consumer data-broker datasets — a direction that demonstrates how easily this infrastructure could evolve into something far more sweeping and alarming than what is currently advertised.

OPD also stated that “Footage is owned by OPD” and that “Flock Safety cannot access, use, or sell Olympia’s data.” However, Flock stores all footage on its own infrastructure, including it’s cloud, hosted by Amazon Web Services which is known for its massive profiteering from contracts with the Department of Homeland Security (Mijente). Flock has previously acknowledged back-door access programs, regardless of local policy, and its contract explicitly allows the company to turn over data “if legally required,” contradicting OPD’s claims. The ACLU has further documented how Flock combines ALPR data with wider commercial networks, showing that it is far from a simple “local crime-fighting tool” and instead part of an expansive private surveillance marketplace (ACLU).

OPD has claimed that data collected in Olympia is not shared outside Washington state. However, as a council member in Gig Harbor recently pointed out, many Washington cities already share their ALPR data with numerous agencies across and beyond state lines: “You sent some information I think about the city of Puyallup … I believe they belong to 593 networks. So … if we share data with Puyallup what’s to keep Puyallup from putting that data all over 593 networks?” (ACLU) Gig Harbor ultimately rejected its Flock contract after council members raised concerns about potential ICE-related data sharing (Gig Harbor Now).

Public frustration with OPD’s presentation rose during the meeting, especially as the department moved into “success stories” while dismissing broader safety concerns. The crowd outside grew louder, prompting the mayor to clear the public from the room and continue the meeting behind closed doors. Residents were able to watch only through the Zoom stream, which remains publicly viewable. Despite labeling critics as “a small sliver” of the population and remarking that “Big Brother… it’s already here,” Mayor Payne’s cynical statements were contradicted by the large, diverse crowds of Olympians who have filled public comment at City Hall throughout the past month.

The halting of Flock’s operations is a direct result of this sustained and organized community response. While the cameras are currently inactive, the DeFlock movement emphasizes that this is just the beginning. Removing AI-driven surveillance from Olympia—and from every community in the South Sound—will require ongoing vigilance, continued organizing, and regional solidarity.

For resources or to organize a DeFlock info night in your community, contact deflockoly@proton.me.

Deflock Rally on December 2nd!

December 2nd 2025, at 5pm outside Olympia City Hall, an Anti Flock noise-rally is being held outside of City Hall to disrupt OPD’s “study session” where they will be platformed by City Council to spread misinformation about the usefulness of of Flock in Olympia.

It will be disrupted by anti-flock community members who say NO to AI-Surveillance in Olympia!

Bring noisemakers, banners, signs! Lets show City Council and OPD what we think of their surveillance!

City Council reportback

INFONIGHT

On November 10th, Deflock Olympia held an infonight about Flock Safety cameras at Traditions Cafe. 150+ people came through to hear about the impact of Flock Cameras in our community and how they can take action to fight back!