Residents urge Kalamazoo to ‘deflock’ as commission reviews city manager search
Community members called for the removal of Flock cameras, and city staff provided an update on the search for a new city manager during Monday’s Kalamazoo City Commission meeting.
The Kalamazoo City Commission met for its regular business meeting on Monday, September 15, 2025. Community members called for the removal of Flock cameras, and city staff provided an update on the search for a new city manager.
A representative of Get the Flock Out of Kalamazoo claimed the cameras could be misused, citing a recent case in Texas where police used Flock’s nationwide network of more than 80,000 cameras to search for a woman after an abortion. According to investigations by the Associated Press and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the search log listed the reason as “had an abortion, search for female.” Flock Safety said no charges were filed and described the search as a missing person case initiated by the woman’s family.
“The cameras sweep up data indiscriminately, recording every vehicle that passes. This happens without warrants, consent, and often without knowledge. It creates a digital map of our lives that can be stored, searched, and exploited in ways that this community has not agreed to. The data is collected by these cameras and is held by an unaccountable third party tech company called Flock Safety,” the speaker said.
Kalamazoo installed Flock cameras in 2021 to address rising gun violence, according to Deputy Chief David Boysen in a report from MLive. The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety restricted outside agency access to the system in early 2024, saying the queries “did not align with Kalamazoo’s values,” according to WOOD TV8, but later reinstated external access.
Flock Safety is a private surveillance technology company that sells license plate recognition cameras to municipalities. The system uses machine learning to capture license plates, vehicle details, and issue real-time alerts for law enforcement.
Several other community members joined in calling for Kalamazoo to “deflock” and remove the cameras, echoing a broader nationwide campaign.
City manager search update
City staff reported that Raftelis, the consulting firm hired to manage the city manager search, received 45 applications. Those will be narrowed to about 10 between October 2–6. At the October 6 commission meeting, commissioners are expected to select five finalists for interviews and release names.
Some residents urged the commission to extend the process until after the November election so the new commission could choose the next city manager. Commissioners did not respond to those suggestions during their closing comments.
Commissioner Qianna Decker raised concerns about whether the city’s job posting was adequately promoted to potential applicants. “Did we or did we not pay to have our job posting boosted to the top of ICMA by Raftelis?” she asked, referencing the professional association site where many city manager candidates search.
“I cannot answer that at this point,” Vice Mayor Jeanne Hess replied.
The city has scheduled a “Meet the Candidates” forum for Tuesday, September 16, at City Hall: 5:30 p.m. for mayoral candidates and 6:25 p.m. for commission candidates.
In other business, commissioners approved several consent agenda items, including contracts for water system upgrades, nuisance cleanup, and demolition work, as well as a Social District permit for Winston’s, a new downtown bar.
Maxwell Knauer is a staff writer for Watershed Voice
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