Wednesday, September 30, 2026 · 34 days to November 3

Drive past the wrong pole in Delaware and a camera can log your plate — and the make, model, and color of your car. Rehoboth’s police spokesperson told the Cape Gazette the city’s system has been used to help other agencies (Cape Gazette). WHYY reported on July 30 that Delaware still had no legislative guardrails on these cameras (WHYY). How long a department keeps the scans, and who it sends them to, is still mostly a policy the department writes itself.

Take the public Flock cameras down until every municipality that wants them holds a real vote, after public notice and a hearing. Not a smashed lens. A vote.

On September 1 I asked for a federal floor under all of this. That letter stands: no plate data kept past 72 hours without a warrant tied to a real investigation; no pattern tracking of people who are not under investigation; a public audit; the same limits when a homeowners association or a business shares its feed with police; a federal floor a town cannot bargain away (Sep 1 letter). The new part is the consent. The Senate can write the floor. The town still has to vote before a public Flock camera stays up.

The Cape Gazette reported on May 23, 2025, that Rehoboth Beach put the cameras up without input from the commissioners or the public. Lt. Mark Sweet said four Flock readers had been active since mid-April 2025 on Rehoboth Avenue, Bayard Avenue, and State Road. He said Chief Keith Banks brought the system to City Manager Taylour Tedder, and Tedder approved it. Mayor Stan Mills told the paper the decision was day-to-day operations, not policy, which is why the commissioners did not need to discuss it (Cape Gazette). City spokesperson Lynne Coan put the purchase at $12,000, with another $12,000 for that fiscal year’s maintenance contract (Cape Gazette). A camera on every car into town is not a day-to-day purchase. It is a decision about whether the town keeps a record of who comes and goes.

On August 5, 2026, Councilwoman Yolanda McCoy’s office said Wilmington is decommissioning four Flock cameras that had been donated to the city — in part because it has no contract with Flock, and because of the public discussion around the technology. The same release says Wilmington still uses plate readers from other companies (Wilmington City Council). I am not asking those other cameras to come down in this piece. I am asking that public Flock cameras come down until the people who live there vote.

WHYY’s July 30 article said Flock’s own spokesman, Paris Lewbel, put the number at 20 law enforcement agencies in Delaware using the company’s cameras. That is his number, not a census I took (WHYY). The same article listed customers that included the Delaware State Police, New Castle County, Wilmington, Newark, Dover, Rehoboth Beach, Milford, and the University of Delaware police — before Wilmington said it was taking its four donated Flock cameras down. I am not going to pretend the July list is still the August list.

I’m running as a write-in candidate for the U.S. Senate (Delaware Department of Elections). This campaign is funded by people. No Super PAC money. Ever. I will not take a dime from surveillance companies or their executives. Privacy is a voting issue.

Today’s letter goes deeper: No Flock Camera Without a Town Vote.

Register by October 10 (iVote Delaware). On November 3, write in TRAVIS JACK STEVENS · travisjackstevens.com