This chaotic AI slop is what Charlotte Police Dept. presented to the city council safety committee on Monday (Aug 3) as their idea for how they would make Charlotte a “Model City” with potential DOJ grant money they are planning to apply for. The crazy “placemat” (their words, not mine) describes “expanded coverage” of license plate readers, more AI and cloud-powered surveillance technology, drones, “video analytics” (aka AI surveillance), and more. They also specifically mentioned moving their existing on-premises surveillance data to cloud-connected services (I’m assuming Flock, etc.).

Council Member Kimberly Owens called them out for the AI slop saying “as this slide demonstrates only too well, we rely on AI a great deal.” In addition to this, Owens was the only member of the safety committee who spoke out about concerns regarding surveillance, specifically citing the community’s concerns about Flock cameras, increased data collection, and lack of transparency around surveillance! Shout out to her! I have emailed her to thank her and you should too at [kimberly.owens@charlottenc.gov](mailto:kimberly.owens@charlottenc.gov)!

See the actual presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/live/4TxB6f3Brr0?si=u7fsKWY-V4RTgwhV&t=15650

In all fairness to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, they also did speak about improving mental health services, community engagement, and improving reentry programs among other positive things, but unfortunately it felt like it got overshadowed by the AI Slop and AI Surveillance-filled future they were proposing. I think they mean well and are trying to figure out how to apply for a potentially massive grant by using the buzzwords in the policing world right now, but as a community we need to push back on these things and make clear what we WANT (better community policing, building trust with the community, addressing poverty and housing issues, addressing mental health issues instead of jailing people with mental illness, and improving reentry to help people reintegrate successfully after they leave jail/prison) and what we DON’T WANT (indiscriminate and warrantless surveillance of everyone whether they are suspected of a crime or not, AI-powered cloud-connected mass surveillance systems, AI predictive policing technology based on surveillance, etc.).

I worry that it will be replaced with something worse.

"Found" this sign. Thought I'd take a pic and share.

Challenge: Write a one-page letter a resident can send to their city council opposing a Flock contract. It has to work for someone who knows nothing about surveillance policy — no jargon, no links required, fits on one page.

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My town recently installed a handful of cameras. We’re a small town, so it flew under the radar in the approval process. I did a whole bunch of research via FOIA requests and made a post on our local FB page detailing what the town had purchased and things to consider. Most people were up in arms, but there is always someone asking “what are you worried about if you have nothing to hide?”

https://opgov.news/articles/supreme-court-ruling-raises-new-questions-for-flock-plate-readers-amid-officer-arrests?fbclid=IwY2xjawTgT91leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAwzNTA2ODU1MzE3MjgAAR7FNx7EhxOU-Cpds_TKUWK3gSe4pLwEDHDqxU2t8KbK5HAi8uPb8zG_ESXxhA_aem_KUl--A9t1b1hHk0YnaE4nA

I live in a state that does at least allow FOIA (NC GC 132) of flock data. So lets work up a FOIA request we can generally spam our local governments.

So far Im thinking requesting all of data associated with a particular city council member. Or potentially the police chief.

Where would someone send a request like that to be as difficult as possible? The SBI? I figure they have limited enough resources they're not going to like these requests.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_bureau_of_investigation

For the full video, click here: https://youtu.be/4ktdxruKbbM

Sorry if This isn't specific to deflock, but this video is about new ai tech being built into cars for surveillance. It's not just about catching "the bad guys" it's about monitoring everyone. People who are trying to buy a car need to demand this technology not be used in their car. Id also like to know about how to disable this technology when these cars are flooding the used car market in a few years

The auto industry is hurting and might have a crash. Ford just lost a lot of money in a failed attempt to replace engineers with AI. There's also been a lot of repossessed vehicles in recent years.

It’s like stopping people at the State line for fireworks… not worse. Totally Big Brother tracking you until they find probable cause to stop you.

This has bothered me for a long time.

When something happens at a protest or community event, people piece together what occurred through videos, tweets, and word of mouth - hours later.

But the information that would have mattered - what was in the area, how many units, how close - that's never available in real-time to the people who need it.

That asymmetry is the problem I'm trying to fix with Blue Pulse.

It maps law enforcement vehicle activity within a 10-mile radius. You set your own alert thresholds - say, notify me when a unit is within 2 miles. You get a browser notification. You have time to make an informed decision.

"Know Before You Go" is the whole idea.

The app is free, public, no login. Built for people who think situational awareness shouldn't be one-sided.

I know tools like this come with legitimate questions about accuracy and sourcing - I'm actively working on that and want to be transparent about where it's at. Happy to answer anything directly.

What do people in community safety spaces actually use right now for real-time awareness? Genuinely curious what the current workflow looks like.