A speech by LPFC At Large, Matt Sargent, to the Madera County Board of Supervisors on August 18th.
Good morning ladies and gentlemen of the public and board,
I am here today to discuss a growing system of surveillance that creates a searchable record of where every car in our community has been, who we park near, and even details about the people inside those cars—all without a warrant.
We already saw how quickly emergency powers can expand. In March 2020, California imposed one of the most sweeping lockdowns in U.S. history. For a disease whose infection-fatality rate in relatively healthy people under 50 was roughly 0.034 percent—about 1 in 3,000—ordinary people lost the basic right to decide how to live their lives. That experience should make us especially cautious about handing government new, permanent tools of mass tracking.
In Carpenter v. United States (2018), the Supreme Court held that historical cell-site location data is a Fourth Amendment search and requires a warrant.
Flock-style cameras automate the continuous collection of the same kind of location data—where we drive, when, and who we are near—and dump it into a searchable database that officers can query without a warrant.
The bulk telephone-metadata program was already found to exceed congressional authority in ACLU v. Clapper (2d Cir. 2015) and again in United States v. Moalin (9th Cir. 2020). Do we really want an even more detailed and permanent version of that power in the hands of local government?
Since 2024, 50 law enforcement officers have been charged or accused of misusing flock type databases. Over half of which specifically involved romantic partners, exes or people officers wanted to meet. No legal justification, no crime, just personal interest on the public’s dime.
Flock is not the only vendor. Vigilant Solutions, Rekor, Genetec, ELSAG, PlateSmart and others sell the same capability.
I will not tolerate these systems on the routes I travel and in the places I live, work, and shop. I want the cameras taken down, existing contracts canceled or not renewed, and a full public audit of any past use—including searches conducted for personal rather than legitimate law-enforcement purposes—with the results made available to the public.
Benjamin Franklin warned “those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” General John Stark put it even more bluntly: “live free or die.”
The safety of our neighborhoods does not come from cameras that record every movement of every resident. It comes from all of us—neighbors, families, and local institutions—working together to build a peaceful community.
I urge you to choose liberty and transparency over permanent, warrantless tracking.
Thank you for your time, attention and consideration
The full meeting is available here. There were additional speeches by other Madera residents also opposing Flock.
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