Protest against Flock cameras to be held in Jefferson City Saturday morning

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

The group Show Me Resistance is planning to gather in Jefferson City on Sunday as part of a "Get the Flock Out of Missouri" protest against Flock cameras.

The protest is set to start at 11 a.m. at Community Park, located at 725 Marshall St., where people will rally before splitting off to gather around Flock cameras in the city.

The automatic license plate readers have received backlash from citizens after reported misuse and abuse by law enforcement, including a civilian police employee in St. Charles County.

Pulaski County Sheriff's Office has stopped using Flock cameras, and Columbia city leaders are considering whether to renew their contract with the company in March.

The Jefferson City Council renewed its contract with Flock in August, which ends in May. The Jefferson City Police Department said the system has helped the department solve three homicides already.

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced a bill in Congress to restrict how data from these AI-powered cameras is used. He proposes that data be encrypted and not shared with non-governmental agencies; searches be approved; a search log be kept; data be deleted within 10 days; hardware or software from foreign adversaries not be used; and facial recognition not be used.

Gov. Mike Kehoe has also put temporary restrictions in place to limit how data is used until Missouri lawmakers can meet in the next legislative session to create laws.

Kehoe signed the order in September, and it requires data to be deleted within 30 days, prohibits data from being sold, requires data to be used only for legitimate law enforcement practices and prohibits facial recognition.

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