Demand Transparency
Contact Mauldin City Council

Sample letter to Mauldin City Council

Copy and adjust as you see fit. Add your own viewpoints.

Dear Members of the Mauldin City Council,

I am writing as a resident of Mauldin to express my concern about the City's use of Flock Safety automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras and to ask the Council to publicly address this matter before the contract with Flock Safety automatically renews on August 30.

Between March and July 2026, an MPD officer used the Flock camera system 166 times to track a private citizen's location, disguising the searches as warrant checks, traffic infractions, and welfare checks. The officer was ultimately fired, but this was only possible because a citizen or colleague happened to notice — not because of routine oversight. When the cameras were first presented to a three-member Council subcommittee in 2024, the public was told that every search would be logged, creating a "digital footprint of who signed in and why." That footprint existed for months without anyone reviewing it.

At the August 17 City Council meeting, the Public Safety Committee's report did not mention the fired officer, the misuse, or any policy changes to prevent a recurrence. Meanwhile, similar misuse has recently come to light in Greer and at the Greenville County Sheriff's Office, involving officers using the same Flock system to track exes, colleagues, and friends without authorization.

Given this pattern, I am asking the Council to take the following steps:

On Transparency:
- Publish the current Flock system policy documents and any audit reports on the City website.
- Issue a public statement explaining what went wrong and what changes have been made to prevent it from happening again.
- Add ALPR use to the agenda for the September Public Safety Committee meeting so it can be discussed publicly.

On Accountability:
- Request an independent investigation, such as one conducted by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
- Ask each Council member to state their position on this matter publicly.
- Ask Chief Miller to provide concrete justification for the program, including examples of cases it has helped solve.

I would also ask that the Council delay the automatic renewal of the Flock Safety contract until these questions have been answered in public session. Residents whose movements are being recorded deserve an explanation and a chance to weigh in before this contract continues.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I hope to see this added to an upcoming agenda.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[Your Email/Phone, optional]