Flock Safety's automated license plate readers are now in 49 states, logging over 20 billion vehicle scans every month from more than 120,000 cameras. The company works with over 5,000 law enforcement agencies. When a Flock camera spots your car, it cross-references your plate against databases of stolen vehicles, wanted persons, and police "hot lists." Police love the tech. A growing number of people hate it enough to shoot it, saw it down, or cover it in paint — and NPR confirmed that resistance has spread to at least 36 states.

1. The Cameras Work (Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley, Salt Lake City Police Chief Brian Redd)

The efficiency gains are real, and Flock says it doesn't sell your data.

This technology helped solve a million cases last year. Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley says the company doesn't own or sell the data. Police departments point to real results: Salt Lake City solved a motel homicide and intercepted a man allegedly traveling across state lines to harm church members. Police Chief Brian Redd puts it plainly: "It makes investigations more efficient. It makes us more accurate too."

Supporters argue the trade-off still favors public safety. Richard Hanania at the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology argues the crime-fighting benefits "substantially outweigh" privacy risks. Jeff Potts, executive director of the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association, calls license plate readers "very helpful tools for law enforcement." For supporters, any surveillance technology can be misused — the question is whether the system's benefits justify its existence.

2. But They Track Everyone (ACLU, NYU's Policing Project, Institute for Justice)

Less than 1% of plates scanned connect to any crime. The rest is mass surveillance.

Less than 1% of scanned plates connect to any crime. That's the ACLU's analysis of Flock data. Clare Garvie, deputy director of technology law and policy at NYU's Policing Project, describes what the other 99% get: a record of which doctors you visit, what church you worship at, which protests you attend. Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst at the ACLU's Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, says the "potential for police fishing expeditions is unlimited."

The accuracy problem is worse than Flock admits. A study in Roseville, California found that 71% of Flock alerts were incorrect. The LAPD's own inspector general found 161 vehicles falsely flagged as stolen in just two months. In the most serious documented case, Lindsey Isaacs spent 13 days in jail — facing vehicular homicide charges on three counts based entirely on a Flock misidentification — before prosecutors dropped the charges seven months later when investigators identified the real suspect.

Officers are using the system to stalk people they know. The Institute for Justice has documented at least two dozen incidents since 2024: a Milwaukee officer ran 124 searches on his girlfriend's plate; a Georgia police chief searched his ex-girlfriend's tags hundreds of times. Michael Soyfer, an Institute for Justice attorney, says the documented cases keep multiplying and the network is "extensive enough that you can connect the dots and spot patterns in people's movements."

Flock is also sharing data without asking. Mountain View, California discovered Flock had shared its license plate data with hundreds of agencies — including federal ones — without the city's permission.

3. So People Are Tearing Them Down (Brady O'Rourke, DeFlock)

A hundred cities have pulled the cameras. Thirty-six states have seen vandalism.

The institutional route is working, slowly. DeFlock, an advocacy group, reports at least 100 cities have deactivated cameras or canceled their Flock contracts. LAPD dropped its Flock contract entirely; departments in California, Oregon, and Ohio have suspended or ended use. The Institute for Justice launched its Plate Privacy Project — combining legislation, litigation, and grassroots organizing — and has two active federal lawsuits challenging warrantless ALPR use in Virginia and California. The ACLU launched its "Get the Flock Out" campaign and backed a bipartisan amendment in May 2026 to restrict federal ALPR funding.

Some people aren't waiting for policy. Brady O'Rourke of Crystal, Minnesota, walks to the nearest Flock camera near his house with a roof rake and a sign, blocking it by hand: "I don't want to pay to be surveilled." Others in at least 36 states have gone further — stealing cameras, sawing them from their poles, shooting at them, and covering them in paint. Cris van Pelt, who runs haveibeenflocked.com, says existing legal protections are "being ignored and it's failing."

Where This Lands

Police say this technology solves crimes at a scale nothing else can match, and that Flock's data doesn't get sold or monetized. Privacy advocates say that's beside the point — 99% of people Flock scans have done nothing, the error rate is high enough to put innocent people in jail, and officers have repeatedly used the system for stalking. The resisters — some legal, some not — have already won in more than 100 cities. Vandalism across 36 states means the fight has moved well past policy papers and council votes.

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