The Town of Newburgh’s use of Flock Safety cameras came under fire at the town board meeting Wednesday evening. 

The Town of Newburgh has 58 Flock Safety License Plate Readers (LPRs), according to Freedom of Information (FOIL) request records. The documents were originally obtained by community residents’ FOIL requests and verified by Radio Catskill.

Flock Safety cameras are specialized Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) designed for neighborhood, commercial, and law enforcement use to record and analyze vehicle data. The equipment captures license plates, vehicle make, color, and other unique features.

Thousands of law enforcement agencies use Flock technology, but across the country, residents are increasingly bringing forward concerns that the company’s data is being shared with outside agencies, specifically to assist with federal immigration activities.

Documents show that Newburgh’s Flock Safety camera order was signed by Town of Newburgh Police Chief Donald Campbell dated March 26, 2024. 

Other FOIL records verified by Radio Catskill show the Town of Newburgh’s Police Department paid Flock a total of $357,000 to date. The first payment was on June 12, 2024, and the latest payment was on Sept. 16, 2026.

Residents push for answers on Flock

Residents at the Oct. 13 Town of Newburgh board meeting questioned how long the Town retains the data from its ALPR cameras, which agencies can access it, where Flock cameras are located, and more broadly the process for how the Flock contract was initially approved back in 2024.

Newburgh resident Gabrielle Gray said she wants the cameras taken down. She regularly drives her two children around Newburgh when she sees Flock Safety cameras around her neighborhood.

“It’s not even as if I could plan, ‘Oh you know what? I feel uncomfortable with these things. Let me try to find a different way to my kid’s piano lesson or go to the gym on a different route.’ It’s simply not possible to want to live your life without being traced constantly,” said Gray.

Police Chief Campbell described Flock cameras as an “eyewitness,” a tool that can help identify suspect vehicles after an incident or crime has occurred. 

“This is a game changer considering that we live in an area known as the ‘Crossroads of the Northeast’ where two major interstates intersect and a suspect can be miles away before police can identify what happened,” said Campbell. “This has led to dozens of arrests for incidents that may never have been solved and presumably prevents additional crimes and additional victims.”

He said the police department retains data from its Flock cameras for 30 days but is considering reducing the retention period to seven days.

Campbell also said that the cameras are the property of the Town of Newburgh Police Department but the department does allow other agencies with “a valid law enforcement reason and complaint number to search for a specific plate #. This means that the other law enforcement agency has identified a suspect vehicle and they wish to see if that vehicle travelled through our jurisdiction.”

Local governments across the Mid-Hudson Valley region have joined the growing wave of municipalities cancelling their Flock contracts. The City of Newburgh voted in September to discontinue its routine use of Flock cameras, while Dutchess County announced it would remove its 65 Flock cameras last month.

The Town of Newburgh will hold a public forum on Flock cameras on Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. at the Town of Newburgh Town Hall. Town Supervisor Gil Piaquadio said he’s reached out to both the ACLU and Flock Safety to participate.

Resident Joshua Huckabee has been working to gather more information about the Town’s Flock usage. “The most important thing is the one question [the Town of Newburgh hasn’t] answered, and that’s who outside of Newburgh has searched our data?”

Huckabee says it’s no coincidence that ICE is looking to expand its footprint in Newburgh. 

Radio Catskill reported that ICE funded a new federal contract for “repair or alteration of office buildings” in Newburgh. The contract doesn’t specify which property. The latest award comes months after the federal government leased a 42,377-square-foot warehouse in Newburgh for $35.5 million.

“ One of the reasons I suspect ICE would like to put a facility in Newburgh is because we have all of these cameras around town, and we know that they can access them, and they’ll be able to… you know, if there’s one at Fostertown School, why do they need to know where our children are at?” said Huckabee. 

READ: New Federal Government Award Renews Questions About ICE Presence in Orange County

“What I really hope happens is the cameras come down, the ICE facility is stopped, and Newburgh can continue to be Newburgh without all of this happening in our backyard.”

Residents can share comments and questions about the Town’s Flock contract with the Town of Newburgh at flock-questions-comments@townofnewburgh.org.