Police cameras track billions of license plates per month. Communities are pushing back.

November 10, 2025 • 08:33

Flock Safety is rapidly building a vast, interconnected surveillance network of automated license plate readers (ALPRs) across the United States, scanning over 20 billion plates monthly. The system centralizes data from thousands of law enforcement agencies, private businesses, and even Ring doorbells, allowing widespread, warrantless data sharing–including with federal agencies like ICE and CBP. This expansion is facing a growing, cross-partisan backlash from local activists who argue it creates a tool for mass surveillance without public consent or oversight. By organizing, protesting, and using public records requests, citizen groups in cities like Sedona, Arizona, have successfully pressured local governments to cancel their contracts. These grassroots efforts, though still outnumbered by new Flock deployments, signal rising public alarm over the erosion of privacy and due process.

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