Berkeley Repudiates Expanding Surveillance

Photos: Leon Kunstenaar

"Berkeley has a contract with the surveillance company Flock Safety Inc. to mount cameras equipped with AI technology and collect data from our streets. This makes us vulnerable to attacks by ICE agents who have already used Flock to gather data on our neighbors in Oakland and San Francisco. We refuse to give ICE any information that could be used to target people in our city and our immigrant community. The best way to keep us safe is to stop collecting data that we can't control."

(Berkeley, Sept. 9) - The rally started an hour before the Berkeley City Council meeting at 1231 Addison St, with fiery speeches and a pretty decent delivery of "Which Side Are You On." Latinos were there to let the City Council know that they will not let themselves be abused.

The banging of pots and pans in the outdoor courtyard keep up as the City Council met, proving a sufficiently audible reminder to the august legislators that the people and their demands were not far.

Copwatch as the main organizer of the rally provided a template for emailing to the City Council Members:

Dear Council Member l am a resident of district [ ] and I encourage you to vote no on the resolution to approve the Flock contract for 16 additional condor surveillance cameras in Berkeley.

Fiock systems endanger the Civil liberties of all residents. particularly immigrants highly susceptible to misuse, mistakes and legal attacks by the Trump Administration and our hostile judiciary. Instead of having to fight the Trump Regime to keep data protected, we should just not gather it at all. Let's look for other approaches to keeping our communities safe. Re-imagine Public Safety without surveillance. Please do not support any agreement to do surveillance on the people of Berkeley.

See all high resolution photos here.