Surveillance Cameras recently installed ON METRO STREETS...

Urbandale IA

Description

Recenly, the Urbandale city council granted the Police Chief's request to enter into a contract with "FLOCK safety". This company sells/rents 24 hour video surveillance and tracking systems to police agencies and private organizations such as neighborhood associations or even shopping malls....anyone can purchase a subscription to the service if the money is right. I the middle of May, the cameras around URBANDALE went up and on. You may have heard recently, on May 20th, 2022 there was a HIGH SPEED POLICE CHASE initiated by Urbandale police during morning rush hour when most of us are just trying to get to work. This chase went from Urbandale, through Clive, Windsor Heights, West Des Moines, and finally ended in Des Moines near the governor's mansion on Grand Av. near Christine's office. NOW, would you believe that the chase was a result of the automated FLOCK system Urbandale just installed? Yes....and more on that in a moment..... This chase was said to have been initiated because the driver of the chased vehicle had an active arrest warrant in Dallas County. What was NEVER said, was WHAT the man running was wanted for. "Jaywalking?" "Shoplifting?" Smoking marijuana? We simply dont know, but I bet it was a minimal charge, otherwise the police and news media would have been bragging about "taking a dangerous man off the street. SO, they risked all of our lives by speeding around like maniacs while we just were trying to get to work!!! They even put road spikes out near 72nd and University at one point! WHAT WAS HE WANTED FOR? What if a kid was playing near the street and killed due to this nonsense? Would those lawmakers who support high speed chases and surveillance we willing to trade the lifes of THEIR kids just to capture someone for some petty crime? I urge all of you to go to the FLOCK safety website to see just how eerily similar this system is to those depicted any number of futuristic, dystopic movies. The scary fact is, it is REAL and it is ACTIVE RIGHT NOW in the metro. URBANDALE has one on douglas ave west bound to scan vehicles coming from Des Moines, since this is the major urban center where most metro criminals originate. I have attached a picture of a list of every camera's location. WHAT does FLOCK do? This system photographs each passing vehicle from behind....scans the rear licens plate....decodes the plate's data, orner, make, model, wants or warrants associated, etc. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. It maintains a recording of all data for 30 days (so they say). A querry (search) kan be made (think of a google search) by any FLOCK member....whether police OR any private subscriber....any. The search criteria can be for all "pink cadillacs" or other descriptions you can imagine. Or, they can enter any license plate. ONE CAN LITERALLY stalk anyone and ascertain the location, direction of travel, yime, date, etc through the system. And this FLOCK company has these things all over the country! It is new here in the metro however. FLOCK and it proponents rely on the argument that "in the public street there is no reasonable expectation of privacy." ....which is generally true....HOWEVER....what this technology does is entirely different than anything we have ever seen before. IT LITERALLY TRACKS YOU. It records all your movements and shares them with the world.....to say NOTHING of the police uses for this. They are saying, that it is PERFECLY LEGAL to park a van one the public street (24 hours at a time....just inch it down a bit every day) and set up STREAMING VIDEO CAMERAS in the van RIGHT in ANY RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD. For example.....the people pushing this tech down our throats are clearly OKAY with vans and cameras right on their street since there is NO REASONABLE EXPECTATION OF PRIVACY on their own street OR in their front yard for that matter. BESIDES, if we stream all the activity in their little neighborhoods, they should feel safe right? It is outrageous how much like a George Orwell nightmare this all seems. It IS an intrusive, invasion of privacy to record and share all of our movements with the highest bidders....it is a twisted form of voyeurism. And lastly, as I am sure you have figured out.....the system is extraordinarily easy for a person intending to break the law, to defeat.....do they really believe bank robbers, murderers, etc are going to make themselves known with their car or license plate? The only ones being hurt by this FLOCK nonsense, are regular honest folks...particularly those of us simply trying to get to work safely in the morning. Lets tell these people to go FLOCK themselves.