Unanswered Questions About Scarsdale’s Surveillance System

(This letter was submitted by Mayra Kirkendall-Rodriguez)
Had it not been for Ms. Joanne Wallenstein of Scarsdale 10583, Scarsdale residents would not have learned that Scarsdale Village Board of Trustees voted on a contract with Flock Safety for a mass surveillance system. While for over a decade, I have reviewed both the Scarsdale School District Board of Trustees agenda as well as the Village's agenda on a bi-weekly basis, I saw nothing about the new surveillance system in the Village’s agenda. It was not until I read Ms. Wallenstein's article that I learned that Village personnel or officials had only placed the terms "Public Safety Equipment" in the April 8 Working Session agenda without any description or other terms. Not telling Scarsdale residents in detail beforehand what the Village mayor, trustees, and personnel were planning, is hardly a hallmark of transparency. Implementing a surveillance system behind residents’ backs could have very dangerous consequences to service providers who come to Scarsdale, as well as to residents and the very fabric of our village.

Had other residents and I known about the Village’s plan to implement a new, massive surveillance system, we could have attended the meeting. Scarsdale Village would benefit from hearing different perspectives. We as residents should have been allowed to discuss perceptions of increased public safety for actual increases in ICE and other federal law enforcement activity around private residences as domestic workers, landscapers and trades people are swept up on suspicion of immigration violations, irrespective of whether there is actual evidence.

For the last two weeks, I have been sending emails with questions to the Scarsdale Village Manager, the Mayor, and the Board of Trustees. None have been answered. I group my questions below:

Surveillance Technology

• Just because other towns might be using Flock Safety, why does Scarsdale need surveillance technology?
• Can you please provide Scarsdale crime data by type and year for the last 15 years?

Scarsdale School District

• Did you inform the Scarsdale School District Superintendent, the Superintendent’s Cabinet, or the Board of Education Trustees about your plan and how it could impact students, teachers, principals, and other staff?
• Did you make the seven Scarsdale teachers, principals, and staff union aware about your plan to significantly increase surveillance?

Engagement with Scarsdale Residents

Scarsdale Village trustees, mayor, or personnel did not survey residents to learn how we feel about privacy and freedom; that should have happened before the Board of Trustees voted secretly on the contract with Flock Safety.

One of the greatest things about Scarsdale is the incredible diversity of our residents in terms of personal and professional backgrounds. About 25% of our residents are foreign-born and the rest of us hail from numerous states. Why would the Scarsdale mayor and board of trustees not avail themselves of our free expertise?

• Other than discussing this topic amongst yourselves, did you speak to any residents in Scarsdale before the April 8th meeting? How about foreign-born ones? People of color? Security, technology, or risk experts? Lawyers?
• Why did you not hold a public hearing or a meeting about the surveillance issue?
• Why won't you hold a public meeting now to hear residents' views?
• What are the quantifiable benefits to the community of this surveillance system?
• How could you all vote on the surveillance issue when two new trustees had just come on Board? Had you all been discussing this behind closed doors with them? How could the new trustees have been prepared to vote so soon on an issue when they barely had been at Village Hall? Had the rest of you been talking about this issue for several years as your own memo on the Village site states?
• How is it that you could not put this issue on the Main agenda if you knew you would vote on it?

Flock Safety

• Did you consult the ACLU since one of its members wrote about Flock?
• Did you speak to municipal authorities in towns and states where Flock is being sued?
• What due diligence did you conduct on this technology and on Flock itself?
• Can the technology you are buying capture images? If so, what is the accuracy of this technology when used on people of different colors?
• What is Flock’s technology servicing record?
• Did you review Flock’s financial statements? What is the company’s financial health?

In mid-March 2025, Flock raised $275 million from Andreessen Horowitz, with backing from Greenoaks Capital, Bedrock Capital. Meritech Capital, Matrix Partners, Sands Capital, Founders Fund, Kleiner Perkins, Tiger Global, and Y Combinator. Did you conduct due diligence on these investors and how they could affect Flock Safety’s services and financial health?

• How was Flock chosen? Was there a Request for Proposal? What other companies were vetted?
• When will you share with residents the contract you signed with Flock Safety?

Oversight of Surveillance Technology, Data Security, and Use of Images

Flock Safety claims that its professionals will not sell the data they collect, that they are nonpartisan, and maintain audit trails for all data queries.

• What do you know about Flock’s professionals' biases?
• Are you aware of what their data safety protocols are?
• What documentation are you getting Flock to sign before you start implementing the technology in Scarsdale?
• What happens if Flock misuses the images and data their professionals collect?
• Who will supervise the use of this technology? What is the expertise of those individuals?

Federal Grant

The Scarsdale Mayor has stated several times that Scarsdale taxpayers will not pay for this technology and that Scarsdale has applied or is applying for a grant. Yet, most recently, the mayor told a resident that while he personally does not want taxpayers footing the bill, “it would be up to the Board to make that decision.” It is important for the Mayor and BOT to be transparent about the financing of this technology.

Nothing is ever free. If the government or a company gives anything for 'free,' it means that we the individuals are the product.
• When did you file the grant application to the Federal government to pay for the surveillance technology?
• When will you share the grant application with the public?
• Did someone in the Federal government reach out to you with the offer of this grant? Or who in Scarsdale asked for this grant?
• How is it that the Federal government is offering to pay for this technology and why? One has to ask why the federal government would offer funding for the product when the

Administration is making a public show of drastic cost-cutting at the same time

• What does the Federal government require of Scarsdale in exchange for this technology?
• Who would pay for servicing the technology once the initial grant is disbursed?
• If you do not get the grant, will taxpayers be on the hook for paying for this technology?
• If there were to be an error with the technology and someone were to sue the Village, who would pay for that damage?
• And if you are connected to the key individuals who would give Scarsdale a grant, is it possible for you to get funding for our schools, roads, and flood remediation? The return on investment for expenditures on education and infrastructure is far higher than for anything that this technology might accomplish.

Petition to the Village

I encourage Scarsdale residents to sign this petition requesting that the Village have an open forum to discuss this surveillance system. When and if I receive answers to my questions, I would be happy to share them with Scarsdale residents. It is important that we all can discuss the need for surveillance publicly and that the Scarsdale Village mayor, trustees, and personnel take your views into consideration seriously.

Mayra Kirkendall-Rodríguez is a financial risk consultant and trainer and has lived in Scarsdale almost 14 years.

See the Village's contract with Flock Safety here.