Springfield considers ordinance to ban Flock surveillance cameras

Residents in Springfield voiced their concerns over flock cameras during a meeting at City Hall tonight. 22 News reporter Lexi White attended the discussion and joins us now with more on what was said. Lexi. Sierra, members of the community are rallying and testifying at city council meetings to bring attention to the flock cameras in Springfield. Now they hold a meeting reviewing a draft ordinance and letting the people take the floor. Taking a stand and acting for change. Springfield residents sharing their take on flock cameras in the past few city council meetings. Now, the council's public safety committee is responding. They're reviewing a draft ordinance that would ban the use of the 50 flock cameras across the city. City Councilor Zeta Govan introducing the ordinance, saying she wants people in the Springfield community to feel both seen and heard. When the community gets... Into an uproar and they don't feel like they're heard, then we have problems in our community, right? That's the reason that I ran for city council, so that I could bring the voice of the residents to City Hall. And that Govan did, concerned citizens sharing their opinions about these ALPRs, questioning how privacy can be kept with constant surveillance. Two people representing the Springfield Police Department at the meeting as well, sharing why these cameras are good for the city and can help other communities. Police saying if a crime was committed in another state, it could be easier to locate the suspect with flock cameras. Springfield Police also saying footage of people or their actions are not and will not be happening and that flock cameras specifically restrict immigration and federal agents from using the technology. I strongly disagree with the implementation of the flock cameras. I think the technology is progressing very quickly. And as the police department kind of pointed out, we kind of are a very surveilled city. And I think those two things kind of intersecting is a big problem for me. City council and committee members are doing all they can to make things change. It seems to be very invasive in people's personal lives. And there's a lot of... Better alternatives, in my opinion, coming from the state level. So what's next? The city council and committee will be holding another meeting on November 17th to go more in detail with the ordinance. If this ordinance is passed in city council, then a few more meetings would need to be held to finalize. After that, it could take anywhere from three to six months for changes to truly be made. Working for you, Lexi White, 22 News.