GoKawiilSearching the Atlas of Surveillance by city or county can surface Flock Safety camera locations, contract details and any reported data-sharing agreements with federal agencies. EFF
Flock Safety’s AI surveillance cameras, drones and listening devices get plenty of attention these days as they continue to expand across the US — but they can still can catch us by surprise. I’ve seen many people and even city councils surprised that local law enforcement or private organizations have signed Flock contracts. That’s a major reason I created a guide on exactly how to recognize a Flock camera, as opposed to other devices. But there’s also another tool I highly recommend using if you’re worried about Flock and don’t know where to start.
Maintained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno, this database tracks police surveillance technology deployments across the US using public records, news reports, community submissions and a whole truckload of research.
In South Carolina, officials have been sparring over whether to install 25 new cameras, a dispute that reflects broader questions about cost, oversight, and how much surveillance communities are willing to accept. The city of Los Angeles recently broke its contract with Flock Safety, though Flock’s CEO argues that the suspension should be temporary while the police department revises its rules.
Public opposition has fueled many of these cancellations, reflecting concerns that the system facilitates mass surveillance and can lead to harms such as discriminatory policing and privacy infringements. It’s also led to a concerning rise in police officers getting arrested for using the systems to stalk exes.
To track such surveillance, journalists and researchers are increasingly turning to a free tool called the Atlas of Surveillance, a collaboration between the renowned digital privacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation and the University of Nevada, Reno. The site has become a go‑to source for mapping police technology — which also includes drones, facial-recognition cameras and body cameras — with a searchable database that’s often more dependable than alternatives.
Atlas searches only take seconds to get started. Tyler Lacoma/CNET
With the Atlas of Surveillance tool, you enter a city, county, state, law enforcement agency or vendor in the US and select which technology you’re interested in tracking. You’ll get a list of details based on your search, including links to public records or news articles.
A major advantage of this tool, besides its reliability compared to other apps, is that it covers all kinds of surveillance technology local governments and police have adopted, not just ALPR cameras but drones, databases, bodycams and other tools, by Flock and a variety of competitors such as Axon.
“We frequently run into situations where local councilpeople don’t even know that a certain tool is in use,” said Beryl Lipton, Electronic Frontier Foundation senior investigative researcher. “Learning about a technology we have logged in the Atlas of Surveillance is meant to help people have conversations [about] whether that tool is appropriate for local use, start asking questions, and advocate for standards around how their police can or can’t use this equipment.”
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