PETITION TO BAN FLOCK CAMERAS IN WEST VIRGINIA
"Get the FLOCK Out of West Virginia"
Defend the Fourth Amendment. Defend Privacy. Defend Liberty.
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees that Americans shall be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Flock Safety camera systems are rapidly expanding across America, creating a network capable of tracking the movements of millions of law-abiding citizens. Every time your vehicle passes one of these cameras, your location, time, direction of travel, and vehicle information can be recorded and stored.
Supporters claim these systems fight crime. But liberty was never meant to depend on whether government believes constant surveillance is convenient.
Even more troubling, many agencies attempt to sidestep constitutional concerns by relying on private third-party companies to collect, store, and manage this data. Simply outsourcing surveillance to a private corporation does not erase constitutional protections. Government should not be permitted to accomplish indirectly what it cannot lawfully do directly.
West Virginia should reject mass surveillance before it becomes the norm.
We, the undersigned, respectfully call upon the West Virginia Legislature and Governor to:
Prohibit the purchase, installation, leasing, or operation of Flock Safety cameras and similar automated vehicle surveillance systems by state and local government agencies.
Prohibit government agencies from contracting with private companies to collect or maintain mass vehicle location data on behalf of government.
Prohibit the sharing or purchasing of vehicle location databases collected by third parties without a warrant based upon probable cause.
Protect law-abiding West Virginians from warrantless mass surveillance.
Restore and preserve the protections guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment and Article III, Section 6 of the West Virginia Constitution.
Why This Matters
Innocent citizens should not have every trip recorded simply because technology makes it possible.
Mass surveillance treats everyone as a suspect first and a citizen second.
Constitutional rights do not disappear because a private company owns the cameras.
Government should obtain a warrant based on probable cause before tracking the movements of citizens.
Once surveillance infrastructure exists, its use almost always expands beyond its original purpose.
Benjamin Franklin warned that those who trade liberty for temporary security deserve neither liberty nor security. That warning remains just as relevant today.
Stand for Liberty
West Virginia has always valued freedom, personal responsibility, and constitutional government.
Tell Charleston:
GET THE FLOCK OUT OF WEST VIRGINIA.
Protect our privacy.
Protect our freedoms.
Protect the Fourth Amendment.