Multiple US municipalities voted Tuesday on ballot measures targeting automatic license plate readers like those made by Flock Safety. York County, Maine passed a measure 72-28 to remove existing ALPRs and require voter approval for future installations, while League City, Texas voters rejected continued police use of the cameras by a 54-46 margin. Pflugerville, Texas also passed ordinances requiring public approval before deploying facial recognition or other AI surveillance tools.
futurism.com
· 2026-11-06
Since this summer, more than ten U.S. municipalities and police departments—including Asheville, Richmond, Lansing, Monroe, and League City—have voted to end, restrict, or phase out contracts with Flock Safety's license plate readers and other surveillance tools. The moves follow local pushback over privacy, data-sharing practices, and procurement concerns, with Flock cameras currently deployed in over 100,000 locations nationwide.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-11-06
The ACLU has documented cases where police stopped drivers based only on AI-powered automatic license plate reader (ALPR) data flagging their travel as 'suspicious,' with no other cause. In one 2025 case, a woman driving through multiple states to Florida was pulled over by a self-identified FBI agent after her out-of-state plate and travel pattern looked unusual in the ALPR database. These nationwide camera networks, often built by Flock, let authorities search vehicle movements without a warrant.
techspot.com
· 2026-10-28
The ACLU published a report on October 26 alleging that police departments are using AI systems analyzing automated license plate reader (ALPR) data to flag drivers' travel patterns as 'suspicious,' then stopping them under pretext of minor traffic violations. Policy analyst Jay Stanley cited cases, including a woman stopped on a cross-country trip after her driving history triggered an alert, with some officers allegedly not disclosing the real reason for the stop.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-10-27
Huntington Mayor Patrick Farrell urged the city council to keep or expand Flock Safety's automated license plate reader network, citing its role in solving a recent killing and a double homicide earlier this year. During a roughly seven-hour July 13 meeting, dozens of residents and people from nearby towns spoke out, largely opposing the technology over fears of surveillance and privacy violations.
theverge.com
· 2026-10-26
Proton AG is now hosting a map built from leaked Flock data showing over 300,000 license plate reader cameras, after Flock sent a cease-and-desist letter to the map's original creator, researcher Joshua Michael. Unlike Michael's U.S.-only site, Proton's version is accessible worldwide and lets users search camera locations by ZIP code, though it reflects a November 2025 snapshot rather than live data.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-10-24
Proton, maker of Proton Mail and Proton VPN, has taken over hosting of an interactive map tracking Flock Safety's license plate readers and AI surveillance cameras across the US. The tool was created by security researcher Joshua Michael in September and survived a trademark complaint from Flock demanding its removal. Proton says the map counts over 214,000 Flock devices in service, far above the 120,000 Flock itself reported this summer.
cnet.com
· 2026-10-22
An internal audit at the Savannah Police Department flagged nearly 1,000 license-plate-reader searches tied to officer Amber Harpe's account between January and July. Investigators found Harpe had given her username and password to her husband, a Homeland Security ICE agent who lacked his own Flock access, and he told investigators he used it to locate immigration targets with active warrants. The department fired Harpe for violating policy and undermining accountability safeguards meant to track who accesses the surveillance system.
wjcl.com
· 2026-10-19
An open format from the late nineties remains the only common way to read what you chose to read, in the order it was published, with nothing in between.
gokawiil.com
· 2026-10-19
404 Media obtained body camera and in-car footage, along with Flock and Motorola ALPR records, showing Tulsa County deputy Freddie Alaniz searching license plate reader data on a laptop while driving 60 mph, before fully pulling over driver Melissa Kyle. A federal judge had already ruled the Flock search that led to Kyle's arrest an unconstitutional warrantless search and 'indiscriminate mass surveillance,' tossing out evidence of 91 pounds of methamphetamine found in her car. The footage was purchased from a Tulsa courthouse clerk after the court declined to post it online despite it being entered as evidence.
404media.co
· 2026-10-19
A Savannah police officer was terminated after allowing her husband, who works as an ICE agent, to access the department's Flock license-plate reading system through her login credentials. The city of Savannah had not authorized sharing this surveillance data with federal immigration authorities, even though Georgia law may not explicitly prohibit it.
gizmodo.com
· 2026-10-18
MapQuest has released an app update featuring a new Surveillance Layer that plots the locations of license plate readers from Flock Safety, Motorola Solutions, Genetec, Axis Communications, Axon, and several other manufacturers. The company announced the feature on Bluesky, noting that it also shows the direction each camera faces, letting users identify and potentially avoid known automatic license plate recognition devices.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-10-18
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