Flock Safety’s days of tracking Syracuse driver movements appear to be numbered. The Syracuse Common Council on Monday voted 7-1 to approve a new license plate reader contract between the Syracuse Police Department and Axon Enterprise. That sets the stage for a breakup with Flock Safety, which has provided those tools to the department since summer 2024. From poles above some of Syracuse’s busiest intersections, Flock’s thirteen AI-powered license plate readers have scanned every vehicle passing beneath their view. Data on each vehicle’s license plate, color, make, model, and other identifiable markings, such as bumper stickers, has flowed into a cloud storage database, where it has remained for 30 days before termination unless flagged for investigative purposes and stored indefinitely. The Syracuse Police Department has insisted its flight of Flock scanners, and the data points they collect, have proved valuable for the department’s detectives — but federal immigration agents have also used that data for their own purposes. Local activists flooded the council chambers Monday to protest the pivot to Axon, fearing a similar data breach resulting in sensitive data on Syracuse residents’ movements winding up in the hands of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. “Axon funds ICE terror!” one activist yelled. After Central Current’s reporting revealed the police department had inadvertently exposed sensitive data on Syracuse drivers’ movements — and later revealed Flock deceived the city about the nature of its data privacy agreement and other contract terms — Syracuse lawmakers since September have worked to block Flock from the city’s streets.  Councilor Jimmy Monto, who sponsored one of two agenda items related to the Axon contract, said the council had worked with the city’s law department and police department to scrutinize the Axon contract, particularly the terms governing data sharing and ownership. “I’m comfortable moving forward with them, but understand this: we’re going to try this with Axon. Contracts are revocable, for many reasons, and if Axon was to begin down a path that we did not like as far as data, we would revoke it,” Monto said. The vote disappointed local activists who have been lobbying the council since the start of the year to consider a resolution to reduce the city’s ties to U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the agency tasked with fulfilling President Donald Trump’s promise of mass deportations.  Local members of the Democratic Socialists of America, together with supporting organizations including the Syracuse Peace Council and Jewish Voices for Peace, watched from pews in the council chamber as the councilors approved the first step in a pivot from a problematic provider to that company’s peer.  The activists had submitted a resolution proposing the city “melt” its contracts with companies that have demonstrable ties to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other DHS agencies. The resolution cited Flock Safety as a company the activists want out of Syracuse, but the switch to Axon did not sate their desire to insulate Syracuse from the facilitators and profiteers of a federal immigration crackdown. During the council’s voting session, about two dozen activists in attendance booed references to two agenda items regarding the Axon contract.  Council President Rita Paniagua threatened to remove two activists as they continually yelled to protest councilors before they voted on the Axon contracts, and five Syracuse Police Department officers eventually removed two activists from the council chambers. “We are here for our data being used without our consent, being used to aid and abet the illegal seizure of us, our people, our home,” Andiara Travis yelled, minutes before officers removed her from the chambers. Councilor Hanah Ehrenreich, a Democratic Socialist, was the council’s lone ‘no’ vote on Monday, with Councilor Chol Majok absent from the session. Ehrenreich after a Wednesday study session told Central Current she had reservations with both license plate readers and Axon’s connections to the federal government. “It’s like asking to pick a defense contractor who’s never created a product that’s harmed a child. It’s very difficult to find the clean hands in this,” Ehrenreich said. “In terms of their connections with ICE and that, I am making peace for now with using a company that is running body cam footage on what ICE is doing as the modern day slave catchers of America.” At the council’s Friday public safety committee meeting on the proposed Axon contract, Ehrenreich asked Syracuse Police Department Deputy Chief Richard Trudell to explain how the department uses license plate readers, and to provide any relevant metrics or data demonstrating the utility of those AI-powered cameras for investigations. “Potentially 70% across the nation, crimes had vehicles involved, so there is a lot of opportunity for these LPR cameras to solve crime in there, but preventing crime, when you take those criminals,” Trudell said. When Ehrenreich prompted Trudell to provide any specific data on SPD’s uses for its cameras, Trudell said the department uses them for almost every homicide and described potential uses. The department increased its searches of Flock’s database from 393 searches in July 2024 to 4,000 searches in September 2025, according to department records reviewed by Central Current. The Syracuse Police Department pledged to regularly publish information on its use of license plate readers, but since 2024 does not appear to have published any reports or audits outlining how, when, and why those tools have been used. Though he did not provide evidence to support the claim, Trudell reiterated that the department believes its license plate readers prevent crime. Independent research and investigative reports have often more broadly undermined claims that readers deter crime.  Forbes in 2024 found that crime increased after San Marino, California installed Flock license plate readers.  A 2025 study from the United Kingdom based publication Taylor and Francis found sparse proof to substantiate the oft-parroted claims that license plate readers reduce crime. “Thus far, however, there is little evidence that ALPRs reduce crime and even less is known about their impact on solve/clearance rates,” the study concluded. In January, The Atlantic published a story suggesting that a national downtick in crime didn’t result from local law enforcement strategies or tactics, but rather from a larger cultural investment in critical infrastructure and human-centered support, stemming from American Rescue Plan Act funds from the federal government following the Covid-19 pandemic. In the Friday meeting, Trudell reiterated his belief that Axon’s products are critical for the Syracuse Police Department to solve crime. “To limit our ability to use some of those best systems only hurts the Syracuse community. It’s not like it’s gonna affect them selling that product to ICE or any other entity that we have a concern with,” Trudell said, “but it will severely limit what SPD is able to do, because those technologies are some of the best.” Axon already provides Syracuse with tasers, drones, and body-worn cameras — and provides federal law enforcement with much of the same. As Syracuse lawmakers, lawyers and ranking police department personnel worked behind the scenes to craft contract terms for an agreement with Axon, the company announced a new contract with DHS to provide ICE and U.S. Border Patrol agents with body-worn cameras. Homeland Security for over a decade has obtained commercial license plate reader data through acquisitions, and ICE since at least 2018 or earlier has made use of license plate reader data for immigration operations through contracts with LPR manufacturers. Beside Axon’s federal contracts, the company’s renewed interest in biometric recognition technology presents an ideological break with the Syracuse’s government’s years-old stance against the use of facial recognition technology. Despite ruling out integrating face recognition technology in 2019 after a report by Axon’s of AI Policing Technology Ethics Board found the technology was not reliable enough for widespread integration, Axon is now piloting face recognition technology in body-worn cameras with a local police department in Canada.  Axon’s 2019 internal report cited privacy concerns and disparity in accuracy across races and genders, among other things, when ruling out integrating facial recognition technology. “In our camera-saturated society, face recognition allows for the collection of personal details about peoples’ lives: what doctors they visit, where their children play sports or hang out, what groceries they buy, or meetings they attend,” the report stated. “Without strong policies and security in place, it is unclear how long these images might be stored or who might gain access to them.” Central Current requested comment from both Flock Safety and Axon Enterprise, but did not receive responses by the time of publication. 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