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Map Shows 149 Cities Pushing Back Against Flock Cameras
0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. A growing number of communities across the United States are turning away from Flock Safety 's automated license plate reader cameras, with Tempe, Arizona, becoming the latest city to permanently shut down its system.
A Newsweek map shows the cities, counties and other local government entities that have canceled Flock contracts, rejected proposed deployments or deactivated existing cameras, reflecting a widening debate over privacy , police oversight and the collection of vehicle-location data.
While Flock has become one of the country's fastest-growing public safety technology companies, concerns over how the cameras are used, who can access the data they collect and whether the technology complies with constitutional protections have fueled mounting resistance across the political spectrum.
On Wednesday, Tempe, Arizona announced it had permanently deactivated its Flock automated license plate reader system and would not seek a replacement provider.
The city said the cameras had helped solve crimes and support investigations but acknowledged growing concerns surrounding automated license plate reader technology in Arizona and nationwide.
Officials said they found no evidence that Tempe's own system had been misused. The city added that previously collected data will generally be deleted after 30 days unless it is tied to an active case or investigation.
Tempe's decision follows similar moves elsewhere. In Stow, Massachusetts, police canceled their contract and removed Flock cameras after a department officer was accused of improperly accessing Flock data. While Police Chief Michael Sallese said the technology had helped "solve crimes and locate missing persons," he added the department needed to evaluate the "safeguards, policies and oversight" required for any future use.
Newsweek reached out to Tempe via email for comment.
The map includes communities that have canceled contracts, rejected proposed agreements or deactivated existing cameras.
They range from major population centers such as Los Angeles, California, and Lansing, Michigan, to smaller towns and counties in states including Texas, Arizona, Wisconsin, Washington, Massachusetts and Colorado.
In several cases, local officials have ended Flock contracts while simultaneously acknowledging that the cameras had produced investigative leads for law enforcement.
Flock Safety's automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras are designed to capture images of vehicles that pass by fixed camera locations.
The cameras record license plates and also collect details such as a vehicle's make, model, color and other distinguishing characteristics. That information is then uploaded to Flock's database, where participating law enforcement agencies can search records as part of criminal investigations, missing-person cases and efforts to recover stolen vehicles.
Unlike traditional traffic cameras, Flock cameras are not primarily used to monitor speeding or issue tickets. Instead, they are intended to help police identify vehicles linked to reported crimes and locate them across a network that spans thousands of communities nationwide.
The backlash has intensified this year following a series of controversies involving Flock's nationwide network.
The local pushback against Flock is unfolding amid a broader national debate over automated license plate readers. Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky has introduced legislation that would deny certain federal funding to agencies using Flock cameras, while lawmakers in several states have proposed limits on data retention and sharing . Civil-liberties groups including the Institute for Justice and ACLU argue recent misuse cases expose wider concerns about police access to vehicle-location databases, while Flock CEO Garrett Langley has acknowledged calls for greater accountability and pointed to new auditing tools and safeguards introduced by the company.
The debate accelerated after several alleged misuse cases drew national attention. In Texas, a Lufkin police officer was indicted on felony charges after investigators alleged he improperly accessed Flock data tens of thousands of times over a period of months. In Massachusetts, a police officer resigned amid an investigation into alleged unauthorized searches involving a person he knew personally.
Questions have also been raised about how broadly local camera data can be accessed by outside agencies. Earlier this month, officials in Pflugerville, Texas, voted to terminate the city's Flock agreement after learning hundreds of outside organizations had conducted searches using data collected by the city's cameras.
The controversy has increasingly moved from local council meetings into national politics. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently said Americans are "right to be concerned" about the expansion of license plate reader surveillance , while Democratic Representative Delia Ramirez has warned that rapidly expanding surveillance technologies pose risks to privacy and civil liberties.
Meanwhile, constitutional questions surrounding automated license plate readers remain unresolved. Privacy advocates argue that persistent tracking of vehicle movements can amount to a form of mass surveillance —which would be against the Fourth Amendment which protects Americans against " unreasonable searches and seizures ."
However, courts have generally ruled that people have no reasonable expectation of privacy in information exposed to public view. Since license plates are displayed openly on public roads, courts have often found that recording a license plate is not, by itself, a Fourth Amendment search.
The increasingly heated debate has even spilled into online activism. Flock Chief Executive Garrett Langley recently became the subject of a doxxing campaign after ...
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