BIG STATE PARK BASH
The upcoming 50th Birthday Bash for Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks will be celebrated Saturday, Sept. 19, at Wilder Ranch State Park. There will be live music, a silent auction, beer, BBQ, ice cream, face painting and more.
Explore the That’s My Park Showcase, an opportunity to learn about the nearly 40 state parks and beaches supported by Friends throughout the region.
For more information: thatsmypark.org
Jennifer Murray | Santa Cruz
DEFLOCK THE COUNTY
I am writing to discuss the nationwide concern over the use of Flock cameras and other ALPRs. In the United States today, we have reached dystopic levels of mass surveillance. These include, but are not limited to, CCTV, cookies on web browsers, bulk phone metadata collection and, finally, ALPRs like those made by Flock.
This is an issue because the technology is being abused by local law enforcement and federal agencies, and fundamentally, it raises serious Fourth Amendment concerns. This is important to me because I am concerned for the safety of members of my community, for my privacy and for how the data being collected could be abused by this administration.
The first issue I have is concern for safety and the overwhelming amount of evidence of misuse of ALPR data. There are hundreds of cases in which this data has been misused by law enforcement. For example, according to the Institute for Justice, it has identified well over 100 incidents of ALPR abuse, including romantic stalking, wrongful stops and detentions, non-law-enforcement use and other types of misconduct.
And this is only the tip of the iceberg. Officers rarely enter specific reasons when they search ALPR databases, and this is only what is currently publicly available.
Furthermore, there have been multiple cases of Flock making false claims about what data it is collecting and with whom that data is being shared. According to the ACLU, in Colorado, Loveland Police Chief Tim Doran raised concerns that federal agents were accessing the town’s ALPR data. Flock’s CEO responded by saying that federal data sharing was a nonissue because Flock had no federal contracts. However, it was later discovered that the company did have contracts with CBP and DHS.
The safety issues alone are cause for concern, not to mention the threat this poses to our Fourth Amendment rights. A direct quote from The Hill says, “The natural right to privacy is a fundamental human right that the government must respect. And the use of these cameras to monitor every movement by law-abiding citizens certainly violates the natural, God-given right to privacy recognized in the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”
I find it shocking that these ALPR companies are able to continue with what they are doing when they are so blatantly violating the Constitution. The problem is that there is no opting out of this. We are being recorded on public roads and in public spaces all the time. Your every move is constantly being tracked, and there is nothing you can do about it.
Overall, there are numerous issues with mass surveillance and specifically ALPRs and how they are being used. The safety and human-rights concerns are overwhelming, and we have to put an end to it. The spread of this issue has gotten so bad, especially with misuse by ICE and CBP. Where does it end? What will be our line in the sand?
Leona Agrella | Santa Cruz
BYE BYE BATTERIES
Thank you for the good report about the ownership change of the Seahawk BESS Project proposed for 90 Minto Road.
It is shocking that the batteries the former owner had planned to install did not meet federal regulations. The California Energy Commission was willing to allow the test results to remain secret.
We should not be comforted by Invenergy’s statement that the lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries filling nearly 300 metal storage containers are safe. There are nonflammable batteries made domestically by Alsym and Invinity that have been implemented in other projects. Why should we settle for anything less safe?
Although Invenergy recognizes the draft Santa Cruz County BESS ordinance, the company seems oblivious to the fact that county voters and Measure J have mandated that agricultural land be preserved. The Seahawk BESS Project is an industrial land use and should not be displacing agricultural land. Furthermore, it does not belong in a densely populated working-class neighborhood close to College Lake and the county’s emergency evacuation center at the Fairgrounds.
There are better alternative sites.
Becky Steinbruner | Aptos
