Want to Live in a Safety Community? Build Trust, Not Surveillance Systems

The Columbus City Council’s Public Safety & Criminal Justice Committee held a hearing on the city’s use of Flock cameras on August 10. Sixty members of the public signed up to speak.

The Ohio Immigrant Alliance submitted this testimony, written by Executive Director Lynn Tramonte. It begins, “If we want to achieve public safety for all, we need to first agree on what this means and what is missing. I’m going to speak bluntly, because we cannot misunderstand each other. The systems built by white and wealthy people when this nation was created — mainly by men — prioritize their safety while denying the humanity of indigenous people, Black people, poor people, immigrants, women, and children.

“My testimony will talk about how Automated License Plate Reader technology is harmful, and how the money Columbus spends on a Flock contract would be better used to build systems that actually reduce harm to all people.” 

Read Tramonte’s full testimony here.