Free Republic

The debate over Flock Safety cameras divides people in a way that almost nothing else does in technology policy. Those who have had a car stolen tend to love them. Those who study constitutional law tend to hate them. Both are reacting to something real. This is an independent analysis of what these systems actually do, what the evidence says about their accuracy and misuse, and why the most important question is not whether cameras can photograph public streets — it is whether the government should build a searchable, warrantless database of everyone’s movements. This topic generated significant public discussion...

ransomnote: The body of the post is about FLOCK cameras, but the video explains the service interupting her car bluetooth is likely Leonardo SignalTrace sensors which are being rolled out. GROK's analysis below seems to confirm this.Wall Street Apes@WallStreetApesAmerican says she always has the Bluetooth in her car cutout randomly for 1-2 seconds at a time, she couldn’t figure out whyShe finally figured it out. It’s the flock safety cameras. Every time she drives by a flock cameras whether it’s an intersection or parking lot, her Bluetooth temporarily cuts outShe believes the flock is reading the Bluetooth of her car,...

In a year as chaotic, violent, and economically destructive as this one has been, it is interesting that, to many Americans, the great villain of 2026 is turning out to be a traffic camera.But, indeed, we are seeing visceral, cross-partisan opposition to so-called Flock cameras—named after the leading manufacturer of these automated license plate readers—take hold in communities across the country. And that opposition is, to be sure, entirely legitimate.Flock’s camera networks are based on the idea that, while it would obviously be illegal and unconstitutional for law enforcement at any and all levels to put GPS trackers in everyone’s...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A reproductive rights group is raising concern that Flock automated license plate readers could be used to track abortion patients in Columbus. On Aug. 10, Columbus City Council had a hearing to receive community feedback on Flock cameras, which capture vehicle details and license plates. The technology is often used by police to track suspects and missing people. The council meeting was spurred by growing local scrutiny of the cameras over concerns about privacy and data sharing with federal immigration enforcement. Abortion Forward Deputy Director Jaime Miracle spoke at the hearing, urging the council to remove...

It seems that Flock cameras have sparked another debate that feels a whole lot like the fight over data centers. And while Flock cameras are not currently equivalent to China’s social credit score apparatus, the infrastructure could very well help create one here in the U.S. Because a government cannot build a comprehensive behavioral-control system without first building the ability to identify, track, connect, and retrieve information about ordinary citizens. Flock supplies part of that capability via large-scale, searchable vehicle-location data. According to Flock, it does not, nor has it ever, used facial recognition technology. But that doesn’t mean it...

If you’ve been wondering whether Flock cameras are tracking your movements, there’s a way to find out. Wonder if you’ve been Flocked? Wonder if your neighborhood has been Flocked? What the Flock am I talking about? Flock cameras are those new, souped-up Big Brother “traffic” cameras that have been breeding like ants all over the country. They are very good at capturing your license plate and other identifying information: SNIP You may be wondering where these Flock cameras are in your neighborhood and whether they’ve captured you. Happily, there are very easy ways to check. First, the map. Below is...

FRANKLIN COUNTY, Pa. (WHP) — Pennsylvania State Police are still working to identify whoever has been cutting down Flock cameras throughout Franklin County this summer as a protest against the cameras is just days away. One of the cameras, located near the Lowes off Lincoln Way E. in Chambersburg, was cut down July 4 and replaced with an American flag. Then, sometime overnight Sunday into Monday, troopers said another Flock camera was cut down off Moly Pitcher Highway in Antrim Township. READ MORE | Cameras cut down, replaced with American flag amid Flock debate in Franklin County Pennsylvania State Police...

Flock cameras are in thousands of communities across the country and often hide in plain sight. A Flock camera is an automated license plate reader, or ALPR, made by the public-safety technology company Flock Safety. The cameras are commonly installed along roads, at intersections, near neighborhood entrances, and around businesses or other private properties.

  Diary of Tube bomb plotter  Ultimate horror ... graphic shows how Barot, inset left, would have collapsed tunnel on train as it went under Thames, inset right, drowning everyone     By SIMON HUGHES and NEIL SYSONNovember 07, 2006CRAZED Dhiren Barot planned to kill thousands of innocent people in Britain and America — with his Thames Tube horror the centrepiece of his plot.The attack formed part of an horrific blitz on the UK that included the Heathrow Express rail link and possibly top London hotels, a court heard yesterday.In a chilling document, the Al-Qaeda commander GLOATED about the prospect...

The Karmelo Anthony murder trial morphed from a nationally recognized criminal case to a test of whether an American courtroom can protect the integrity of a trial from online mobs. The case centered on Anthony’s fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf during a Frisco, Texas, high school track meet. On June 9, 2026, a Collin County jury found Anthony guilty of murder. He received a 35-year prison sentence. I joined “Fox Report” with Jon Scott to discuss Judge John Roach’s decision to keep cameras out of the courtroom during Anthony’s trial. Roach defended the integrity of the trial afterward, saying...

NYC’s traffic cameras are now writing fiction. The famous “Knight Rider” car KITT has been hit with a speeding ticket in Brooklyn — despite sitting on display inside an Illinois automotive museum for years. The Volo Museum, based north of Chicago, said it received a $50 ticket from the New York City Department of Finance tied to its replica of the famous TV car from the 1980s series starring David Hasselhoff. “Well, this is a new one … we got this in the mail today. This is 100% legit,” the museum wrote in a Facebook post on May 7. According...

Democrats have proposed legislation to limit ICE’s use of facial recognition, but the proposals are unlikely to advance without bipartisan support. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer say they want to tack on restrictions to how ICE can use body camera footage, according to a letter sent to Republican leadership on Wednesday night. “Prohibit tracking, creating or maintaining databases of individuals participating in First Amendment activities,” the letter says. It’s unclear how the request for new limits on surveillance will affect ongoing negotiations with Republicans to pass a funding bill for the Department of Homeland...

A retired San Francisco schoolteacher is accusing the city of running a “Big Brother” surveillance dragnet that illegally tracks everyday drivers. Michael Moore, a retired public school teacher, filed a federal class-action lawsuit Monday alleging sweeping Fourth Amendment violations. Moore says the city’s Flock license-plate reader system unlawfully monitors his movements as he drives to stores, his sons’ schools and family gatherings — all without a warrant or probable cause. San Francisco has installed roughly 450 to nearly 500 Flock cameras along major roadways, making it “functionally impossible” to drive anywhere in the city without having your license plate photographed,...

Hours before the sun rose on Dallas police Chief Daniel Comeaux’s first day on the job, an elderly man in a wheelchair was shot dead near Fair Park. Two days later, the new chief stood among a cluster of officers outside the suspected gunman’s home in west Oak Cliff. He was impressed by one tool the investigators had used to arrive there: the network of license plate-reading cameras scattered across the city. “I was like, ‘Alright,’” Comeaux recalled saying, referencing the April case months later in an episode of Bridging the Divide, the Assist the Officer Foundation’s podcast, “‘explain this...

“Woodburn suspended its Flock license plate reader system for at least 60 days after residents raised concerns about federal immigration enforcement access. The City of Woodburn is committed to keeping our community safe while respecting the concerns of our community members," Mayor Frank Lonergan said. "Based on community input, pausing the Flock camera system is a prudent step."

You tube video on how the Flock security systems are being used, and by who.

The Philadelphia Police Department is solving so many homicides and arresting suspects at nearly the same rate as the force was about four decades ago, according to a new report from The Philadelphia Inquirer. Homicide clearance rates have hovered between 86 and 91 percent this year, which is the highest it has since the department reached 95 percent in 1984. Technological advancements, including license plate readers and high-definition surveillance cameras have assisted the department greatly. The tools, along with social media and cell phone location analysis, not only provide more evidence for cases, but also make the crimes get solved...

The largest town in America has been held in contempt by a New York judge for releasing just 17 of nearly 3,000 emails sought in a battle over alleged illegally issued school-bus-camera tickets. State Supreme Court Justice Maureen McHugh Heitner last week ruled that the failure of the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, Long Island, to produce the roughly 3,000 records amounted to “willful disobedience and resistance.” The town had agreed to release the records after signing an agreement in June with the Brooklyn-based Aron Law PLLC, which is repping accused scofflaws — yet Hempstead has produced only 17...

The Masjid Omar Mosque was probed by a program that drew criticism from civil liberties advocates and was the subject of two federal lawsuits. The Paterson mosque that some neighbors said the suspect in Tuesday's deadly terror attack in New York City attended was among several in New Jersey that the New York Police Department targeted as part of a broad surveillance program that was intended to identify "budding terrorist conspiracies." The Masjid Omar Mosque is on Getty Avenue, around the corner from the apartment where the suspect, Sayfullo Saipov, lived with his family. Wednesday morning, the mosque was within...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP/Atlanta News First) — One of the nation’s leading operators of automated license-plate reading systems announced Monday it has paused its operations with federal agencies because of confusion and concern about the purpose of their investigations. The Atlanta-based Flock Safety, whose cameras are mounted in more than 4,000 communities nationwide, put a hold last week on pilot programs with the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection and its law enforcement arm, Homeland Security Investigations, according to a statement by its founder and CEO, Garrett Langley. Flock Safety’s cameras capture billions of photos of license plates each...