Mayor Carmella Mantello supports Flock

Twenty-six cameras in Troy photograph every vehicle that passes them — about 159,000 a day, in a city of about 51,000 people. Police departments as far away as Houston can search it. The pictures are deleted after thirty days. What the company builds out of them, the contract lets it keep and sell forever.

In March 2026 the City Council was asked to renew the contract for another two years. Before voting, members asked the company for two years of search records and a security report. What came back was twenty-five records, covering six months. The logs they had asked for, when those finally arrived, held more than twelve million searches.

The mayor came to the meeting to argue for the cameras anyway, and spoke for nine minutes. The council voted to hold off and told the city’s auditor to stop paying. Thirteen days later she declared an emergency, and the payments continued.

The contract she was defending had never been before the council. A police captain signed it in July 2021. The department signed again in December 2022 and doubled the system. Neither time was there a recorded council vote.

Troy’s Charter gives the power to sign a city contract to the Mayor. It gives the power to buy and to bid to the Purchasing Agent, and the power to commit city money to the Council. It gives none of these powers to the police department, and no ordinance hands them over. Neither the first contract nor the expansion was signed by anyone the Charter gives the power to sign it. The paperwork and the provisions are set out in Troy’s Flock contract never went to the City Council.

1. 2021

   1. July 22

      A Troy police captain signs Flock's order form for 11 cameras at $27,500 a year. The contract starts August 16, after a 60-day pilot.

2. 2022

   1. December 19

      The police department signs for 11 more cameras at another $27,500 a year, doubling the system to 22.

3. 2023 – 2025 · the contract does not come before the council

   2026

   1. March 19

      Committee night, four years and eight months after the first signature. The audit logs and SOC 2 report the council asked for have not arrived; the mayor speaks for nine minutes in support of renewal.See the record — Committee night, four years and eight months after the first signature. The audit logs and SOC 2 report the council asked for have not arrived; the mayor speaks for nine minutes in support of renewal.

   2. March 19

      Four hours later, the council tables Resolution 35 and directs the City Auditor to withhold all payments to Flock.See the record — Four hours later, the council tables Resolution 35 and directs the City Auditor to withhold all payments to Flock.

   3. March 31

      The contract's stated expiration.

   4. April 1

      The mayor declares an emergency directing “such payments as may be necessary” to keep the system running.

   5. May 7

      The council introduces a local law governing ALPR use.

   6. May 17

      The Washington Post reports from Troy on the fight over the cameras and the emergency declaration.See the record — The Washington Post reports from Troy on the fight over the cameras and the emergency declaration.

   7. May 19

      The mayor and the council president jointly announce an ALPR policy, effective immediately, and a 60-day working period. It is the first written governance record for the cameras in five years.See the record — The mayor and the council president jointly announce an ALPR policy, effective immediately, and a 60-day working period. It is the first written governance record for the cameras in five years.

   8. June

      The department produces its Flock audit logs. They record 5,309 outside agencies, 12 of them federal, searching Troy's data.

   9. July 29

      The department's own 60-day evaluation reaches the council. It reports 826 searches and calls its use “highly disciplined” and access “strictly regulated.”

   10. July 31

       The council's public safety chair says complete data arrived for only 30 of the 81 cases. The mayor says the councillors were “too lazy to review it in its entirety.”See the record — The council's public safety chair says complete data arrived for only 30 of the 81 cases. The mayor says the councillors were “too lazy to review it in its entirety.”

   11. September 3

       The council passes Local Law 4, giving itself the power to overturn a mayoral emergency declaration.See the record — The council passes Local Law 4, giving itself the power to overturn a mayoral emergency declaration.

   12. September 15

       The mayor vetoes Local Law 4.See the record — The mayor vetoes Local Law 4.

   13. September 17

       The council overrides the veto unanimously.See the record — The council overrides the veto unanimously.

   14. October 1

       The council passes Local Law 3 governing ALPR use, 6-0. Plate data is deleted after 72 hours unless needed for a criminal investigation.See the record — The council passes Local Law 3 governing ALPR use, 6-0. Plate data is deleted after 72 hours unless needed for a criminal investigation.

   15. October 15

       The mayor vetoes Local Law 3, calling it “biased in favor of criminal defendants.”See the record — The mayor vetoes Local Law 3, calling it “biased in favor of criminal defendants.”

She says the cameras are not surveillance cameras

Public safety is a top priority for my administration… Flock safety cameras are a piece of that pie. They are not the panacea.

On where the program came from:

Look back at 2021 when Flock entered our city. The license plate readers, you know where it came from? It came from our minority community.

On what the cameras are:

They are not surveillance cameras… Your Ring doorbell is more of a surveillance camera than the license plate readers.

A plate is registered to a person. A car sits outside one house at night and another during the day. That pattern is a life: where you work, who you visit, which doctor you see, which church, which meeting. The cameras do not need your name to record that. The contract Troy signed lets Flock keep the pattern forever once your name is stripped off it.

On who can see the data:

Flock does not share our data with outside agencies including the federal government including ICE.

And the ask:

We are here tonight to plead with the council to support our efforts supporting Flock to support the license plate readers.

The police chief followed with the same message in the same order. At 2:33:38 he told the council that he felt “pretty assured from Flock that they’re not in any shenanigans. At least here in Troy.” Asked about Flock misuse documented in other states, he said at 2:33:54: “I can’t control what happens outside of us… I can do what matters here.”

She vouched for a company that would not speak for itself

The company had a representative at that meeting. The minutes list him in attendance: “FLOCK Public Affairs Manager Kerry McCormack.” He was not in the room — a Flock spokesperson took part remotely.

Asked about the contract, the company’s answer was that it does not discuss “specifics regarding contracts.”

That was the night the council was trying to find out whether the contract had already renewed itself without them. By the council’s own account, it had questions about data security, privacy, and information sharing. It tabled the resolution after the mayor, the deputy mayor and the Flock representative did not answer its questions.

The mayor spent nine minutes that evening telling the council what Flock does with Troy’s data. Flock’s own representative would not answer the same questions. She kept vouching for the company anyway, and has not stopped.

The council said no

Four hours later, Resolution 35 came up for a vote. Council Member Stuber said there were too many unknowns. Council Member McLaren moved to table it while waiting for more information from Flock. At 6:25:08, the two-year renewal was tabled.

The council went further, directing the City Auditor to withhold all payments to Flock Safety. We know that because the mayor’s own emergency declaration says so in its opening line.

The contract was ending on its own

The Flock contract expired on March 31, 2026. The council had voted to let it. Doing nothing would have ended the program.

On April 1, the next day, Mayor Mantello signed a Declaration of Emergency. Its title is “Emergency Action Relating to Public Safety and the Law Enforcement Infrastructure of the City.”

Declaration of Emergency — Flock ALPR systemOffice of the Mayor, City of Troy · April 1, 2026 · PDF

It uses § C-40 of the Troy City Charter to mobilize “all available City resources… to continue the operation, proper functioning, and uninterrupted service of the City’s ALPR system from Flock Safety.” It spells out what that includes: “making such payments as may be necessary.”

The declaration describes the contract it is protecting as “the current contract which the City Council failed to act upon before it renewed.” That is the same automatic renewal the March 19 meeting had spent the evening arguing about.

It closes:

Public safety must take precedence over partisan political squabbling.

The declaration remains in effect, by its own terms, “until such time as the emergency conditions described herein have been resolved.”

The charter section she used is four sentences about disasters — “conflagration, riot, storm, earthquake.” It runs until she says it is over. She has used it eleven times.

She told them the data stays here

On March 19 the mayor told the committee that Flock does not share Troy’s data with outside agencies, the federal government, or ICE.

The cameras photograph every passing vehicle, not just its plate. Flock reports make, color, and body type. The camera can only supply those by photographing the vehicle and its surroundings.

The department’s Flock audit logs run to March 18, 2026 — the day before. They record 5,309 outside agencies searching Troy’s data, twelve of them federal. Border Patrol is on the list. So is ICE.

The full breakdown is in What Troy’s Flock audit logs show.

Her own lawyer told her she did not have to pay

The council sued her over the declaration. In August she answered under oath, and the answer is the clearest account of what she chose.

The reason she gave for paying is that the contract renewed itself. Nobody had sent Flock a non-renewal notice thirty days out, so by its own terms it rolled over on April 1. Her answer quotes advice on that from her own Corporation Counsel, the city’s lawyer. He gave it eight days before the contract expired:

In my experience, the automatic renewal clause is pretty standard fare in tech subscription contracts. It is not very enforceable against a municipality.

The city’s own lawyer told her the clause probably could not be enforced against Troy. She declared an emergency to honor it anyway, and told the court why:

Mr. Morrissey’s opinion was not definitive. In any event, I am entitled to err on the side of caution.

Two days after signing the declaration she signed the requisition. The amount is in her answer, and it appears in none of the eleven declarations. It was $78,000, the first year of a new two-year contract at $78,000 a year. It was paid on or about April 17.

Verified Answer of Mayor Carmella MantelloSupreme Court of the State of New York, Rensselaer County · August 24, 2026 · PDF, sworn under penalty of perjury

How she talks about the residents and council members who disagreed with her about the cameras is set out in Party over people.

She and the council president announced a policy instead of a law

On May 7, 2026 the council introduced a local law to govern how ALPR data is used. On May 17 the Washington Post reported from Troy on the fight over the cameras and the emergency declaration. Two days later the mayor and Council President Sue Steele announced a policy instead, effective that day, alongside a 60-day working period.

The policy includes parts of the council’s local law. It is the first written governance record for the cameras since the 2021 signing. Records requests for the department’s earlier Flock policies returned “no records could be located.”

At the end of the 60 days the department evaluated itself and reported that its use was “highly disciplined.” The council had asked for one number: how many crimes were reported more than 48 hours after they happened. That number decides whether a 48-hour retention limit is workable. Council Member Noreen McKee, who chairs the public safety committee, said complete data arrived for only 30 of the 81 cases. Council President Steele agreed it was incomplete.

The information was available for review, but they were too lazy to review it in its entirety.

On September 3, 2026 the council passed a local law giving itself the power to overturn a mayoral emergency declaration. She vetoed it. The council overrode her unanimously on September 17.

She vetoed the law the council wrote

On October 1, 2026 the council passed Local Law 3 The vote was 6-0, with one member absent. Police must delete plate-reader data after 72 hours unless an officer has a “reasonable belief” it may be needed for a criminal investigation. The data can be shared only under a court order or with the Rensselaer County District Attorney. The law permits searches for felony investigations, felony warrants, missing persons, stolen vehicles, and uninsured or unregistered vehicles.

On October 15 she vetoed it.

This local law is biased in favor of criminal defendants. It significantly undermines the ability of the Troy Police Department to investigate and solve serious violent crimes.

Her message also argued that the law gets in the way of the mayor and the police chief running the department. It said there is “no reasonable expectation of privacy” in a license plate. She wrote that no Troy investigator has misused the city’s cameras since at least 2015. The department’s own logs record 5,309 outside agencies searching Troy’s data, 12 of them federal.

What the record shows

Every time the cameras were about to stop, she kept them on.

The contract had expired. The council had voted to let it go. It had told the city’s auditor to stop paying. Her own Corporation Counsel had told her the renewal clause was “not very enforceable against a municipality.” Nothing required her to act. She declared an emergency, signed a $78,000 requisition two days later, and the cameras stayed on.

When the council wrote a law to govern them, she announced a policy of her own instead. When the council passed the law anyway, she vetoed it. When the council asked for the data to write that law, what came back was incomplete. The city’s Facebook page carried her reply that council members were too lazy to read it. When the council sued, she told the court the case was a political power play. She also told it the cameras are “still available to protect public safety because of the action I took.”

She told the committee that Flock does not share Troy’s data with the federal government or ICE. The department’s own logs, for the two years ending the day before she said it, name twelve federal agencies that did. She has not corrected it.