Grimace, you’re on candid camera: Fight unconstitutional surveillance in your town [free template!]

Something from my time in law enforcement that gives me the willies to this day (aside from all the bigotry) are license plate readers (LPRs) on patrol cars.

LPRs don’t only read the plate of a person being pulled over for a violation. They automatically collect and store plate and location info for every single car they pass, moving or parked.

They track where you drive/park regularly, who you interact with, and whether you have warrants attached to your plate. This information is recorded even if you’re parked in your own driveway. It happens each time the officer passes, further triangulating your movements.

I used to know cops who’d spend hours driving up and down parking lots, slurping up all that data on innocent people’s movements (only .3%-ish of which actually results in any useful investigative leads). They were looking for petty traffic warrants they could arrest people for as they left the grocery store.

Anything for that number, just as they were trained.

Tracking your every move: Now powered by AI!

In case cameras on patrol cars weren’t intrusive enough, for the past several years Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) have been quietly installed in cities across the country to capture ever-more intrusive information about passing vehicles.

Probable cause who?

Has surveillance helped catch people wanted for serious crimes? Sure. But those people were being surveilled because they were wanted for serious crimes.

Does that mean every single person should give up their constitutional right to privacy and be tracked 24/7? What can we do now that our government isn’t bothering to ask?

Combine these AI-powered cameras with those already on patrol cars, streetlights, and highways? The government pretty much knows where to find you at all times. This results in dragnet policing; a recipe for profiling, dangerous errors, and abuses of power.

It should scare you that they’re storing all that info about people who haven’t been accused of anything at all. It should scare you that you likely had no idea.

Surveillance has long been a tactic used by abusers and oppressive governments to instill fear and maintain control. But there are ways to resist.

My abusive ex is still a cop in my home state, by the way. He has a long history of violence, abusing power, and using cameras in our home (as well as other technology) to monitor me during and after our relationship. Understand now why I’m halfway across the country?

Message template

Subject: End mass surveillance in [LOCATION]

Dear mayor/councilmember/representative [NAME],

I’m a neighbor in the city of [LOCATION] writing to request your commitment to ending [LOCATION]’s mass surveillance contract with Flock Safety and other ALPR companies.

As of this writing, there are [##] known Flock cameras operating in the [LOCATION] area. These systems are marketed as a safety measure, but are in fact a data grift. They capture data from all vehicles, not just those driven by people suspected of crimes:

Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs or LPRs) are AI-powered cameras that capture and analyze images of all passing vehicles, storing details like your car’s location, date, and time. They also capture your car’s make, model, color, and identifying features such as dents, roof racks, and bumper stickers, often turning these into searchable data points. — DeFlock

These systems are marketed as tools to fight crime, but they ignore tools police already have to track criminals (such as cell phone location data) to create a loophole that doesn’t require a warrant. Companies that make ALPRs have a history of poor security practices, which can lead to data breaches and unauthorized access to sensitive information. Additionally, these systems are the object of numerous ongoing lawsuits for violating the rights of citizens.

Use of ALPRs is a clear violation of our 4th Amendment rights to privacy and protection against unreasonable searches and seizures:

“In our society, it is a core principle that the government does not invade people’s privacy and collect information about citizens’ innocent activities just in case they do something wrong. Clear regulations must be put in place to keep the government from tracking our movements on a massive scale.”—ACLU

I don’t want data about my community shared with government and third-party agencies without cause. There is no evidence these cameras function as a deterrent. There is no real-time response to threats. They’re a threat to our privacy and safety, and only serve as a gift of our data to the growing surveillance state.

Please act now to end the mass surveillance contract with Flock Safety/other ALPR vendors. Say no to normalizing oppressive control of our community.

Thank you for addressing these concerns.