GoKawiilOpioid settlement funds diverted to buy Flock license-plate cameras, Mother Jones finds
A Mother Jones investigation found 19 police agencies in ten states spent nearly $1 million of opioid settlement money on automatic license plate readers from companies like Flock and Axon. The funds were originally allocated to help communities devastated by the opioid crisis, but state distribution agencies instead routed portions to police departments, which pitched surveillance tech as a crime-fighting tool.