Cameras don’t install themselves. Someone voted for them.
Flock Safety sells automated license plate readers to American police. Roughly 100,000 of its cameras now watch about 6,000 communities across 49 states. They photograph every car that passes, log where it was and when, and add it to a database officers can search without a warrant.
None of that happened in secret. Your council approved a contract, in public, at a meeting that was probably not well attended. Don’t Flock keeps that record: who voted, what it costs you, and when it comes up for a vote again.
The shape of what a license plate reader records about ordinary journeys. A composed example, not live data. Your own city’s real audit logs are obtainable under public records law, and here is how to read one.
What these cameras actually do
Every car, not suspects
The camera does not wait for a reason. It photographs all traffic and keeps the record whether or not anyone has done anything wrong.
More than the plate
The system builds a vehicle fingerprint: color, make, model, roof racks, damage, even bumper sticker placement. It can find a car without reading the plate at all.
Shared far beyond your town
Local cameras feed a national network. Audits in city after city have turned up searches by out-of-state and federal agencies the council never agreed to.
Paid for with your money
These are procurement decisions, made with public funds, on renewable contracts. That is also precisely what makes them reversible.
What is happening in your town?
Enter your city, state or ZIP. You will get the contract status, what it costs, when it comes up for renewal, and how each official voted last time.
45 jurisdictions on file
Towns are voting these out
More than 80 American communities have cancelled or suspended their contracts, most of them after residents turned up and asked questions at a council meeting. Nothing exotic was required. People read the contract, requested the audit logs, and spoke for two minutes.
Whether you want to stop Flock in your town, or simply block Flock from handing your neighbors’ movements to agencies two states away, that is the route that has actually worked.
The scorecard
Sorted by what they did, not by party. Opposition and support both cross party lines here, which is exactly why this is winnable.
Three ways people use this site
Find out
Look up your town and see the contract, the cost and the vote. Most people have no idea their council approved anything at all.
Check my townBlock Flock
Even where a contract stays in place, sharing settings can be switched off. Learn what to request and what to ask your police chief.
The questionsStop Flock
Contracts come up for renewal. That vote is public, and it is where more than 80 communities have already ended theirs.
The playbook