Their cities dropped Flock surveillance cameras. They’re still being watched
Summary
Longmont, Colorado ended its contract with Flock Safety, a company that installs cameras to automatically read license plates and help police solve crimes. However, the city soon approved a new contract with another company, Axon, to install similar cameras, showing that surveillance continues despite public concerns about privacy.Key Facts
- Flock Safety operates over 120,000 license plate reading cameras across the U.S. that scan billions of plates each month.
- These cameras help police find stolen vehicles and missing people but also collect data on many innocent drivers.
- Critics worry about privacy because police can search data without a warrant and sometimes misuse it for personal reasons.
- At least 56 cities have cut ties with Flock this year due to privacy concerns.
- Flock introduced some new rules on data use, but many privacy advocates think they don’t go far enough.
- Even when cities stop using Flock, other companies or private cameras often continue surveillance.
- Longmont chose Axon, a large law enforcement tech company, to replace Flock’s cameras despite public protests.
- Axon has gained municipalities as customers after Flock’s bad publicity and highlights its own focus on privacy.
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