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Gardner police discontinue Flock cameras as license plate readers face scrutiny
- arkhiver 2mo agoThey will just switch to Axon
- ncr100 2mo agoThen society may just regulate the technology.
- ihsw 2mo agoSociety must regulate the people using Flock cameras. Guns don't kill people, people do. Automated license plate readers don't stalk jilted ex's, people do. Pole-mounted facial recognition cameras don't spy on children in swimming pools, people do.
- asteroidburger 2mo agoDoes Axon offer the same sort of national, single-database that Flock does? I'm far more inclined to trust my local department to manage their own database vs. a single database that everyone contributes to and reads from.
- monksy 2mo agoThey connect into the flock network. https://investor.axon.com/2020-04-02-Axon-Partners-with-Flock-Safety-to-Enhance-Security-for-Cities-and-Neighborhoods https://investor.axon.com/2020-04-02-Axon-Partners-with-Floc... EDIT: There is a claim they terminated their partnership by last year..but who knows. https://www.404media.co/cities-are-ditching-flock-immediately-replacing-it-with-axon-license-plate-readers/ https://www.404media.co/cities-are-ditching-flock-immediatel...
- sneak 2mo agoMy angle grinder is vendor-agnostic.
- e2le 2mo agoIsn't it a bit disingenuous to refer to them as merely license plate readers?
- lemoncookiechip 2mo agoCop-issued spousal trackers. 50 cases and counting.
- ceejayoz 2mo ago50 known cases. edit: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/08/19/we-found-cops-who-misused-flock-their-police-departments-didnt-know/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/08/19/we-foun... > At least 69 police officials have been accused, charged with or convicted of misusing Flock’s system or other license-plate readers for unauthorized purposes, The Post has found, and in at least 15 of these cases, someone outside of the police department — including victims, activists and journalists — first identified the potential misuse. > Records and interviews show that departments across the country do not regularly audit their officers’ Flock use, a practice recommended by the company, and some law enforcement agencies have no formal training programs or written policies describing how the technology should be used.
- lemoncookiechip 2mo agoExactly. One cop used it to track his almost 800 times in a few months.
- ofjcihen 2mo agoWhile citing bogus reasons that were actual crimes.
- esalman 2mo agoThey're not, according to "Authorities". > Authorities believe the at-large criminals snuck up behind the cameras with spray foam canisters and sprayed the lenses before the cameras had a chance to ID them. https://www.facebook.com/100064614555569/posts/1467922555371549/?app=fbl https://www.facebook.com/100064614555569/posts/1467922555371...
- deleted 2mo ago[deleted]
- aussieguy1234 2mo agoThere are multiple cases of people being falsely imprisoned because police believed Flock over actual evidence. In each case Flock was wrong.
- tptacek 2mo ago[flagged]
- ceejayoz 2mo agohttps://www.riaclu.org/news/flock-safety-image-led-to-false-arrest-aclu-urges-cumberland-cancel-contract/ https://www.riaclu.org/news/flock-safety-image-led-to-false-... https://reason.com/2026/08/13/flock-cameras-and-license-plate-readers-are-everywhere-can-we-trust-cops-with-them/ https://reason.com/2026/08/13/flock-cameras-and-license-plat... https://katv.com/news/local/sherwood-stop-sparked-after-flock-camera-misread-plate-by-one-letter-as-stolen-katv-news-share-inform-public-community-safety https://katv.com/news/local/sherwood-stop-sparked-after-floc... For the edit specifically: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/11/human-toll-alpr-errors https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/11/human-toll-alpr-errors > Turns out that the ALPR had misread a ‘3’ as a ‘7’ on Green’s license plate. But what is even more egregious is that none of the officers bothered to double-check the ALPR tip before acting on it.
- tptacek 2mo agoThanks! Reading now.
- tptacek 2mo agoThe third of these is exactly what I'm looking for: a case where a Flock camera was off by one letter, and mismatched a car as stolen when it wasn't. The driver wasn't arrested, but being stopped for a stolen vehicle is terrifying --- it happened several times where I live as well (due to stale Illinois LEADS entries). The first two don't seem like Flock issues at all. In the first, police used Flock cameras as they would have a closed-circuit camera. They got a vague look at the person driving a suspect car, and they got another lead on the owner of the car, tracked him down on Facebook, and picked out a person from his friends list that looked like the picture on the camera. In the second, there was a fatal hit-and-run accident involving a Dodge Durango; the police did a dragnet search for Dodges Durango and literally picked the first one they could find parked on the street. They then papered the case backwards to match it to the accident, claiming it had telltale damage (it did not). Both those cases are police malfeasance, to be sure. But they're not the police believing Flock against all other evidence; they're police essentially manufacturing evidence to clear a case.
- atmavatar 2mo ago"Over 1,200 vendors had access to our information through the Flock system," Steinmetz said, adding he did not know the identities of all those entities. Even if for some strange reason you're OK with the police having access to the surveillance data (despite multiple recent articles revealing abuse), I'd like to think most people would take issue with random third parties also having access to it. Flock cameras and their ilk are not OK in a civilized, free society.
- SlightlyLeftPad 2mo agoFor what legitimate reason would Flock be giving 1,200 vendors access to the city’s information? I don’t see how they’re going to be able to feasibly walk back from this without taking a massive punch to their business. And also great timing because Flock almost swept it all under the rug [1]: 1: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/flock-ceo-apologizes-surveillance-technology-abused-company-changes/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/flock-ceo-apologizes-surveillan...
- skywhopper 2mo agoNo legitimate reason, but money plus investor pressure plus lack of privacy laws goes a long way towards self-justification.
- FireBeyond 2mo agoOne recent claim was that insurers were using it to determine whether the damage you claimed on a vehicle was as described, and/or repaired.
- sneak 2mo agoBy the exact same token, the same thing applies to payment cards and cashless systems in general, but everyone seems to be fine with universal suspicionless surveillance by a private compant in that case.
- deleted 2mo ago[deleted]
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- sneak 2mo ago* Flock (YC S17) https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/flock-safety https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/flock-safety
- ofjcihen 2mo agoYC has somehow managed to be affiliated with some of the most egregiously crap companies along with the okay ones.
- SlightlyLeftPad 2mo agoYC funds the “idea.” Despite having deep issues with this particular business, looking at global trends, I really only see one of two possible outcomes. 1) They’ll survive through this hopefully with some kind of significant reform (on paper at the very least) 2) Flock will suffer from the PR and fail, with the idea being filed under “before its time.” Ultimately, the idea persists. Mass surveillance and LPR tech will continue to roll out under a different name or structure.
- sneak 2mo agoYes, that’s the issue I have with YC here. Unless Flock started with a birdwatching app and later pivoted to mass surveillance, I can’t imagine anyone ethical deciding to profit from nation-scale warrantless mass surveillance. It’s deplorable.
- TylerE 2mo agoVCs are cancer. YC is one of the biggest VCs. What do you expect?
- blackoil 2mo agoIs this the reason why this story is flagged and pushed down to 2nd page?
- veec_cas_tant 2mo agoProbably because there’s a new Flock-bashing post every day or two on here, and there’s barely any tech relevance for a global audience.
- neom 2mo ago"Authorities have charged or accused at least 50 law-enforcement officers of using license-plate readers for unauthorized purposes, including to stalk women without their knowledge or consent, a Post analysis of police and court records found. In 26 of these cases, police investigators and prosecutors said the officers used the technology to spy on their wives, their girlfriends, their exes, their exes’ new partners or women they wanted to meet." https://archive.is/fxZWT https://archive.is/fxZWT And 3 more just a week ago in Georgia: https://www.cbsnews.com/atlanta/news/3-georgia-deputies-arrested-after-allegedly-using-flock-cameras-to-stalk-people-they-knew/ https://www.cbsnews.com/atlanta/news/3-georgia-deputies-arre... If you're curious how this plays out in practice, investigation room video of an officer who confesses to using one to create an alert on a woman so he could pull her over later to get her instagram: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3UfAMzz9Lc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3UfAMzz9Lc
- viccis 2mo agoThe ones here (not in Texas) were being queried by Texas cops looking for women getting out of state abortions.
- s1artibartfast 2mo ago[flagged]
- ImPostingOnHN 2mo agoThat's the obvious solution in a perfect world. Another part of that obvious solution is to take them down until those sufficient regulations and civilian oversight of police are in place.
- slowin 2mo agoIs it obvious that regulation will fix this? I never want to be filmed in public constantly. Ever. There's no reason that would justify that.
- s1artibartfast 2mo agoA majority of Voters might not change your mind, but I think they are plenty sufficient justification to allow it over your objections
- slowin 2mo agoThe majority of voters agree with me thankfully.
- sneak 2mo agoThis is a clueless take, tbh. There is no regulation that can stop these being misused at scale to violate people's rights. None. It's the same with FAA702.
- tyre 2mo ago1. We shouldn't have to wait for regulation to accept this. It should be locked down before going live. It's reasonable for people to want it gone until it's thoughtfully and *transparently* rolled out. 2. I agree that there are legitimate use cases and I still don't want it to exist. I do not trust our government or police force to use this properly, as demonstrated by the abuse that has already happened. Currently there is a US Green Card holder—a legal permanent resident—who is facing deportation for protesting Palestine apartheid. Not for supporting Hamas, not for called for terrorism, not for attacking anyone. Simply for protesting their homeland being occupied and bombed. This government is not trustworthy. Police can't be trusted with this ability. There are trade-offs for not having it, fine, but there are trade-offs for having it. The erosion of privacy and liberty is too costly.
- throwitaway222 2mo agoMaybe we need to upgrade the system to be more like... To use this service copy and paste your authorization: 634534534535453454565646567880123843489579823374234 Thank you! Your authorization gives you permission to search for plate 5VFA213 only. Signed by Judge Ja.... The problem isn't flock either. The next system that replaces this is going to be self-charging and swapping out Drones that scan large areas 15 feet above traffic and follow people it hasn't seen on a daily basis (non-normal events). Good luck us.
- jmpman 2mo agoI've been thinking about this for a while. The only place I want flock cameras is at the entrances of the mall parking lot. I can't articulate why that seems acceptable, and yet I view everywhere else as an overstep.
- ihsw 2mo ago[dead]