A few years before I retired, the department began using the FLOCK system more extensively. Originally, as a regular patrol officer I didn't have an account to log in and access the system. But over the last couple of years or so the department ordered me to get an account but, through managed avoidance and deliberate disobedience I never did. But, I've seen it in use and know how it works.
Every single vehicle that drives by a Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR) is recorded and saved. Multiple pictures, including details of the vehicle and the driver. This creates a massive database that anyone with a simple login can access and search statewide. Of course, this is ripe for malfeasance. Of course, such a database is going to be misused over and over and over and over both on the small and large scale.
Last year, a Kansas Sheriff used Flock to track his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend,
A police chief used cameras 228 times over four-plus months to track his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend's vehicles. Sedgwick's Police Chief Lee Nygaard used Flock Safety license plate readers to track his ex-girlfriend, according to The Wichita Eagle.
This year, a Northwestern Chicago suburb, had their account used by CBP or ICE in preparation for the criminal actions hilariously called "Midway Blitz",
On June 11, 2025, at 4:30 P.M., the Mount Prospect Police Department (MPPD) was made aware of an investigation by the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office into the misuse of Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) data through Flock Safety that violated Illinois state law. Data from Mount Prospect, along with other Illinois law enforcement agencies, was accessed through the Flock Safety “National Lookup” feature by other law enforcement agencies for purposes of immigration enforcement.
The Illinois Secretary of State’s Office investigation revealed that other law enforcement agencies conducted 262 immigration-related searches on Mount Prospect’s ALPR data. It is likely other Illinois communities with Flock cameras would show similar searches of their local cameras if audited. MPPD was unaware of these searches until being notified by the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office at the end of the day on June 11.
The Mount Prospect Police Department learned at the end of May that the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department in Texas utilized the Flock Safety “National Lookup” feature, accessing the data from over 83,000 cameras around the country, including Mount Prospect’s.
And remember the initial scan, digital image, and storage are not post-criminal investigation or after a warrant but simply because you drove by the camera or even if the camera was pointed towards your residence,
Lee Schmidt, a retired veteran, wanted to know more about the license plate cameras tracking him in Norfolk, Virginia, where he lives. So he sued with a co-plaintiff and a legal nonprofit and got an answer: 176 cameras across the city logged his location 526 times between Feb. 19 and July 2, according to a Monday court filing. That’s about four times per day.
Schmidt’s co-plaintiff, Crystal Arrington, a health care worker who lives nearby, was surveilled even more. Her location was logged 849 times between Feb. 19 and July 3, averaging more than six times a day.
There are tons of other instances of misuse across multiple states but, fortunately as with lawsuit in Virginia, another lawsuit in Washington State has municipalities and lawmakers scrambling because the ruling is ALL FLOCK data is in the public domain.
In her Nov. 6 ruling, Judge Elizabeth Neidzwski said the cities of Sedro-Woolley and Stanwood could not deny an Oregon man’s public records requests for Flock photos and data because they qualify as public records and can’t be exempt from release under the state’s Public Records Act.
It is not clear whether Stanwood or Sedro-Woolley intend to appeal Neidzwski’s ruling. Stanwood Mayor Sid Roberts and Sedro-Woolley’s City Administrator Charlie Bush declined to comment, citing the ongoing litigation.
But the ruling has already had a chilling effect on some Washington jurisdictions’ desire for the technology and the potentially overwhelming number of public records it could one day burden them with stewarding.
Hilariously, the Stanwood Village attorney tried to argue fulfilling the FOIA request in the lawsuit would violate peoples privacy rights! Whilst the State, local, and increasingly Federal officials mine the images for use in their unconstitutional actions!
The initial argument has always been you have no expectation of privacy out in public and while freedom of movement is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, driving an automobile is a privilege therefore driving and everything associated with it is not protected from this surveillance. Of course, as people have questioned this rationale; the arguments changed to safety and law & order.
Think of all those Silver Alerts elderly dementia suffers found by the FLOCK system! Why just look at all the Hit & Run crashes solved with FLOCK! Imagine all those over-night burglaries we can wrap up by tying them to this car we tracked! It used to require some investigation and a warrant to place a tracker on suspected vehicles used by burglary crews!
But, it's too hard for Police to do old-fashioned shoe leather investigation these days or patrol at night because Police are similtanesouly really really lazy and over-tasked with extraneous duties because Villages see a huge portion of their budget go to Police and Fire so just continually expand their duties and of course white people call 911 for everything, so instead let's just set-up a dystopian nightmare and surveil everyone and sort it out later.
After all if you have nothing to hide... you should be fine with the Child Rapist Trump administration having a complete picture of your comings and goings as well as your associations and any other potentially embarrassing or damaging thing they could use to silence, intimidate, or perhaps incarcerate you for...
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