Before We Accept ALPR/Flock Surveillance, Demand the Records
Concerns around AI in writing is a hot topic, but the real concern starts here with AI Surveillance on Innocent civilians. This article is not an attack on Law Enforcement Officers (LEO) but a red flag we should all be waving. A recent traffic stop that I would consider to be unethical led to my inquiry into the subject of ALPR and Flock Camera’s. A simple ALPR camera system read my license plate as expired. Who cares really. $45 dollar ticket and I’m on my way. The issue is why a camera was allowed to do this in the first place, where is my information being stored, is my location being held in a secure database, my stops around town, are they recording my movements. Is AI tracking my vehicle?
Are we Being Surveilled? As a former drone pilot for US Marine Corps, I was taught that surveilling American citizens was illegal or subject to scrutiny. So, I have an ethical responsibility to ensure this is not happening to the Americans I sought to protect and serve.
What is Flock Safety?
Flock is a “License plate” reading security camera made by Flock Safety. It takes photos of passing vehicles and people. In a recent article I saw in the news, Flock microphones were recording on college campuses to include audio as of January 2026. This is clearly a violation of privacy and freedom we have as Americans.
Though American legislation would suggest this is legal and we do not have a right to privacy outside our own homes as stated by the LEO I interacted with today. Is this ethical is my concern, and the answer to this is no. We may not have a right to privacy due to the fact we are in public.
That’s obvious you dumb ass law makers. That doesn’t mean you get to track our every movement and conversations everywhere we go.
So, my solution to the ever-evolving issue of surveillance is that of records inquiry. We as Americans have the right to oversight into what our government is doing with our information and how they are violating our freedoms and privacy through unchecked surveillance.
By doing such inquiries, we can track how they are storing our data through Flock and ALPR cameras.
· Was the location recorded
· How long its retained
· Can officers search it later
· Can other departments view it?
· Can a private tech company process or retain the information
· Can officers reconstruct our travels?
· How we know where the cameras are?
My debate is not whether ALPR and Flock cameras are conducting criminal surveillance. My concern is whether a “Free America” should allow government and private tech companies to quietly construct a surveillance program without the consent of innocent people with no suspicion of crime and the lack of transparency or public oversight.
These Flock cameras came up overnight without anyone’s consent. It is also known in addition to news coverage circulating around concerns over Flock system vulnerabilities as being hackable by civilians and unethical officer use. In several instances, corrupt officers are tracking and stalking exes and using the tech to get a leg up on legal cases.
Do I have your attention yet?
This is not an article about officers observing traffic infractions in public but a computerized network recording
· License plates
· Location
· Date/Time
· Vehicle characteristics
· Frequent location tracking
· Database Searches
One photo of a person’s car or license plate is one thing; thousands of photo captures can reveal people’s routine.
Why you should request your own ALPR/Flock Records?
People should certainly fight back this misuse of technology and violation of our privacy. We do have more rights to privacy than this unethical choice approved by legislation and state officials used by LEO and who knows.
You should want to know what the government is doing with your data, how it’s being stored, used and by what means.
It is your American right to request these records, and it should be known that your request should ask for the following data.
· ALPR/Flock detections associated with your vehicle
· Dates and times of captures
· Searches or queries involving your plate
· Stated reasons for searches
· Associated case or incident numbers
· Hotlist alerts
· Audit logs
· Agencies accessing ALPR numbers
· Data-sharing agreements
· Retention policy of your data
· Deletion policy
· ALPR/FLOCK operating policies
· Contracts with vendors such as Flock
· Number of ALPR/FLOCK Cameras
· General geographic deployment information
· Internal compliance audits
· Records concerning unauthorized or improper access
These are important details, as this can highlight misconduct. The warning signs you may find behind this inquiry include not just what they may or may not be doing correctly with your information, instead how they retain and use this information on a mass scale. As a collective, we the people may expose this new system of cameras and intel gathering as having a pattern of misuse and unethical violations of American Privacy.
WE THE PEOPLE should not allow this technology to grow or continue its use. We need to check it here and now before it is too late. If we don’t stop it now, this surveillance state will only grow larger and become more dangerous.
Privacy is not evidence of wrongdoing; it is an American right regardless of location.
Imagine a world when you try to escape the city to hike a trail. These cameras and microphones will be installed in locations where you try to escape to enjoy your American freedoms only to find out you never can escape.
The Government should justify surveillance. Americans should not have to justify their need for privacy.
At the bare minimum and immediately, all cameras and cop cars should notify citizens of the use of ALPR and FLOCK cameras with a sign or sticker in plain view.
All Cock cameras should be painted red, in clear sight and marked with a sign stating they are surveilling the public. “Public Surveillance Camera” to include audio, visual and any other sensory data collection tools.