Saint Paul hearing: residents press council to end contracts with Flock, Skydio and Axon

The Saint Paul City Council convened a special public hearing where residents from multiple wards urged an end to city contracts with private surveillance vendors and called for bans on AI-powered mass surveillance. Chair (speaker 1) opened the hearing, explained two-minute public-comment slots and said the council had a hard stop at 6 p.m.

Speakers across the hearing named specific vendors — Flock, Skydio and Axon — and asked the council either to cancel existing agreements or to release contract details. Matt Ealing, who said he serves on the board of Minnesotans for Open Government, pointed to a state law described in his testimony as "Minnesota statute 13 8 2 4" and said the statute restricts ALPR use, including prohibiting a statewide repository and limiting checks to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension hot list except in active investigations. "Minnesota statute 13 8 2 4 has been on the books for over a decade and was a result of 2 years of negotiations," Ealing said.

Several speakers tied vendor relationships to broader civil-rights concerns. Cedar Larson, a member of Women Against Military Madness, said ALPRs and drones "are a violation of privacy and have been proven tools to serve the police" and warned that drone footage can be live-streamed. Other speakers raised human-rights objections to Skydio because of company sales to Israeli forces, and some alleged local use of vendor data during "Metro Surge" immigration enforcement operations.

Technical witnesses and privacy advocates warned of algorithmic bias and misreads. Jefferson (Ward 7) cited a study he summarized as finding "1 in 10 license plates scanned by Flock were misread," while others described the risk of ‘‘dragnet’’ surveillance and recommended legislative reform, model transparency policies such as CCOPS, or outright bans.

Chair moved to close the public hearing; the clerk recorded the result as "7 in favor, none opposed," and the hearing ended. The council was urged repeatedly to follow up by releasing contracts and considering ordinances or further action.

The hearing focused on requests for transparency, legal compliance with state statute, consumer and civil-rights risks from vendor-operated databases, and possible fiscal and liability consequences of surveillance contracts. Council members did not debate or vote on contract cancellation during the hearing; the meeting concluded with an invitation for residents to follow up individually with council members.