As Flock Safety looks to expand its already massive network of automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) throughout the US, political lobbying has become a key tool for the extremely unpopular company to achieve its aims.
As the Chicago Sun Times reported in the wake of the US midterms, the controversial AI surveillance company Flock Safety has given nearly $500,000 to campaigns for local and state candidates in Illinois alone over the past two-odd years.
The political spending spree in Illinois comes as a result of two contracts with lobbying firms including Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies, which the Chicago Sun reports was first retained by the surveillance company in early 2024. Cozen O’Connor represents other startups-turned-tech-dynasties like Lyft, as well as facilitating loans between lenders and data center developers.
Flock has also contracted the firm Mercury Public Affairs to lobby federal politicians on both sides of the aisle, including the successful Democrat senate nominee from Illinois, Juliana Stratton. The company’s total lobbying spend on this election came out to more than $2 million across the country, as its surveillance network has ballooned to include nearly 150,000 ALPRs.
Despite all of Flock’s spending in races across the US, voters loudly rejected the company’s advances in local contests. In towns from Texas to Maine where ALPRs came up through ballot measures, voters rejected them, voting overwhelmingly to require voter consent for police to install new surveillance tools — or even to end ongoing contracts with Flock entirely.
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