SASSI South

10Investigates: Knoxville license plate reader cameras turned off after contract lapse Attorneys warn that the loss of data could hinder investigations for months. KPD says it's switching to a new vendor with cameras expected to go up later this year.

Knoxville is following a national pattern by switching to Axon from Flock for ALPRs. Axon is selling their product as a solution to the problems of Flock. The problem is that ALPRs and the business of mass data collection & sharing is dangerous, no matter the vendor.

www.wbir.com/article/news...

Durham scraps controversial police tech contract after community resistance The Durham Police Department’s plan for a “Real-Time Data Center” to solve crimes faster is now on hold.

The Durham City Council decided against signing a contract with Peregrine aka Palantir-lite, a company who sells a predictive policing tool according to the City's own assessment of Peregrine.

www.newsobserver.com/news/politic...

crowd photo from above of the January 2026 Minneapolis General Strike by Lorie Shaull with "TFSR 2-1-26 | Being The Right Best Person: A Conversation with Donna Mae in Minneapolis" Photo: Lorie Shaull/CC

An interview with Donna Mae, a longtime resident of Minneapolis and registered nurse speaking about the community resistance to ICE / CBP in their city, the legacy of the George Floyd Uprising and mutual aid

thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2026/02...

Resisting the Surveillance Systems Behind ICE’s Kidnappings with Ed Vogel / MAKC logo; matrix letters dripping down the image; Background photo caption from photographer: "Portland Avenue and 34th Street in South Minneapolis where City of Minneapolis officials have confirmed an ICE agent shot and killed an observer. A neigbhor who saw what happened told local MPR news: "She was trying to turn around, and the ICE agent was in front of her car, and he pulled out a gun and put it right in — like, his midriff was on her bumper — and he reached across the hood of the car and shot her in the face like three, four times,” Credit Chad Davis with link to https://chaddavis.photography/sets/ice-in-minneapolis/

Resisting the Surveillance Systems Behind ICE’s Kidnappings with Ed Vogel of @sassisouth.bsky.social
millennialsarekillingcapitalism.libsyn.com/resisting-th...

Federal Court Confirms License Plate Readers Are Constitutional A federal court decision issued today in Schmidt v. City of Norfolk represents a clear and definitive legal win for license plate recognition (LPR) technology as it is responsibly deployed today.

As if we needed another example that the courts are not going to protect people. The courts are going to protect the interests of corporations and the state.

www.flocksafety.com/blog/federal...

Police Told to Be ‘as Vague as Permissible’ About Why They Use Flock The documents show law enforcement sees themselves as being consistently and universally under threat from the people it is supposed to protect.

Scoop: Police have recently been ordered to be "as vague as permissible" in the Flock system about the searches they do in a message shared with several major police departments around the country by the FBI. Actively avoiding transparency is now the strategy:

www.404media.co/police-told-...

Worth the time

The reason Nashville is one of the only cities in the entire country that doesn't have license plate readers is because of community members fighting like hell over the past 5ish years to protect our neighbors. No matter how exhausted we are, we will never, ever give up this fight.

It is not enough to abolish ICE. We need to abolish the police and cages and build other institutions and relationships that can bring us genuine safety. Abolition is less an act of demolition than a construction project. It is creative creation, the boundless, boundary-less struggle to make our collective lives better, what Ruth Wilson Gilmore calls “life in rehearsal.”

Robin D.G. Kelley
www.bostonreview.net/articles/ren...

Raleigh City Council Advances Public Safety and Community Support with New Initiatives Raleigh City Council meeting focused on enhancing safety with StarChase system, supported local non-profits, and furthered Dix Park plans.

The Raleigh Police Department now has Starchase and were able to acquire the technology because "the department received a boost from a donation by the Raleigh Police Department Foundation"

hoodline.com/2026/01/rale...

A private entity building the local surveillance apparatus:

"With nearly a million dollars from a Savannah College of Art and Design grant, the Savannah City Council approved the purchase of drones, emergency phones and cameras at an end-of-the-year meeting."

www.savannahnow.com/story/news/l...

Thanks for letting me know. It just loaded for me:
tinyurl.com/sassimeltsice

During this digital workshop, we will explain Webloc and walk through how to change specific settings on our phones in order to limit ICE's ability to access our location history. This session will be in English. Stay tuned for a Spanish session. Please register at tinyurl.com/sassimeltsice

Join SASSI on Wednesday, February 4th at 8pm ET for, "Simple Steps to Melt ICE." This is the latest session in our ongoing community safety series. On January 8th, @404media.co published a story about how ICE is using a tool called Webloc.

YOUR RING CAMERA IS AN ICE AGENT [a drawing of a ring camera with an ice agent dragging a person away in its field of vision] "In October of 2025, Amazon's Ring announced its partnership with FLOCK, an A.I. surveillance group that freely shares its footage with ICE, the secret service, and the navy. Flock customers can use A.I. tools to sift through footage to assist in all manner of operations (like raids and deportations) without a warrant. Unplug Ring! Melt ICE! Protect your neighbors! See: https://blog.ring.com/about-ring/ring-expands-community-requests-to-additional-community-safety-partners/ https://www.404media.co/ice-secret-service-navy-all-had-access-to-flocks-nationwide-network-of-cameras/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pp9MwZkHiMQ https://www.aclum.org/campaigns-initiatives/get-the-flock-out-resource-guide/

jack asked if i would sketch up a poster to tell people in nearby neighborhoods about the partnership between flock and ring, and this is what i came up with. it can be printed on an 8.5x11 sheet of paper.

This week on January 22nd, the Durham City Council is having a work session focused on the proposed contract with Peregrine, a Palantir-like, predictive policing company, with a vote coming at the February 2nd City Council meeting. Now's the time to make your voice heard!

Call to Action for Durham! The Durham City Council is currently considering building a Real Time Crime Center. This surveillance hub won't make Durham safer, it will only intensify the criminalization of Durham's Black, brown, immigrant, queer, trans, and activist communities, among other folks.

We honor the courage of Manuel Teran, known to fellow forest defenders as Tortuguita, who sacrificed all in defense of Weelaunee Forest three years ago today. 🖤

And we give thanks for those who responded to Tortuguita's murder with a wave of fierce direct action. 🏴

crimethinc.com/LivinginanEa...

Battle Over Facial Recognition in New Orleans Will Shape Future of Surveillance Edith Romero, an organizer in New Orleans, discusses the dangers of the growing surveillance state.

"The fight in New Orleans is one that every city will eventually face. New Orleans is the laboratory for mass surveillance experiments that eventually may spread to the rest of the country."

truthout.org/articles/bat...

Have I Been Flocked? - License Plate Privacy Check - Search Flock Safety Audit Logs Have police looked up your travel history? Search Flock Safety audit logs for your license plate

New feature on HaveIBeenFlocked.com

The list of all agencies searching Flock's national database who also have 287g agreements.

haveibeenflocked.com/ice-287g

According to John Brown over at the FBI office in Atlanta, HaveIBeenFlocked.com "poses significant officer safety risk to law enforcement personnel."

Surprise, surprise but the FBI doesn't like anyone interrogating what cops do, especially when it comes to their surveillance toys like Flock.

The Huffman Independent School District in Texas contracts with Flock Safety for ALPRs & shares their data directly to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

From Nov.: "Texas DPS troopers will have immigration enforcement powers under new agreements with ICE"

www.dallasnews.com/news/immigra...

This bizarre email that Flock Safety sent to its customers in December has made the rounds.

What we haven't seen discussed is the odd inclusion of a hyperlink to this story: theoutline.com/post/6131/sn...

Garrett's feelings were hurt in 2018 and he holds grudges.

Former Echols County Sheriff’s Office employee charged after allegedly using Flock system to stalk people she knew The following was taken from a press release distributed by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation on January 7, 2026. ECHOLS COUNTY, Ga. - The GBI has arrested and charged Anna Altobello, age 33, with e...

There's a pattern here with police using ALPR systems & data to stalk people. It's easy to do and more common than we know. After countless examples of this, it continues because it cannot actually be prevented. ALPRs are dangerous. ALPRs make us all less safe.

thegeorgiagazette.com/featured/for...

Durham's Real Time Crime Center and Peregrine Contract Raise Privacy Concerns RTCCs, like automated license plate readers (ALPRs), are rapidly cropping up across the US, as companies like Peregrine and Flock have been aggressively marketing the use of big data and algorithms in...

"Building up an RTCC would not only be a step backwards, but upend all the progress we’ve made."

www.durhamdispatch.com/post/real-ti...

Image of a purple and pink background with white text that says Join Healthy & Free Tennessee and SASSI for. Next, in a white background are the Health & Free Tennessee and SASSI logos with purple text that says An Introduction to Pod-Mapping. Next, over a purple and pink background, white text says Pod-mapping is one tool that we can use in this time of heightened oppression and repression to better support and care for each other. Join to learn abut pod-mapping and how it can be used to create caring and accountable communities, in real life and digitally. Finally, over a white background, purple text reads Sunday, January 18th 6pm ET Register: tinyurl.com/podmapping101

Join us and Healthy and Free Tennessee to learn about how we can use pod-mapping as one tool to improve our personal and community's safety, both in real life and digitally. Please register at tinyurl.com/podmapping101

These tools are more widely used across the South than is probably know.

Reach out to us and we can help you confirm if your local police are using Tangles, Webloc, or similar tools.

YouTube video by Benn Jordan Gadgets For People Who Don't Trust The Government

Please enjoy the latest from @bennjordan.bsky.social

www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_F4...

Got to talk more about the exploitation at the intersections of marginalization.

Amid Southern US Raids, Who’s Making Money Off Border Patrol and ICE Contracts? Contracts for companies based in North Carolina and Louisiana total more than $341 million for fiscal years 2025-2026.

"38 companies based in North Carolina receiving contracts from CBP and ICE. These contracts are currently valued at $61.7 million, with a potential to grow to $77.9 million once the work is completed."

truthout.org/articles/ami...