Many City's Removing Flock Cameras are Actually just Replacing them with Another Brand

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A wave of public backlash is pulling Flock's license plate reader cameras off streets nationwide. But in many communities, surveillance isn't ending and cameras are actually just changing brands.

As cities cancel their contracts with Flock Safety, more are hiring Axon instead. They are another law enforcement technology company that installs cameras that scan and track passing vehicles much as Flock cameras do, and they lack the public attention that Flock has received over the course of the past few months.

That trend has even reached the Florida Department of Transportation. They ordered all license plate readers removed from state roads on Aug. 31, revoking permits for Flock, Axon and Motorola cameras alike and giving agencies 30 days to take them down.

Douglas County, Colo., went a different direction on the numbers. County commissioners approved a nearly $22.8 million contract with Axon that replaced the county's 50 Flock cameras with 100 Axon cameras, along with a fleet of what officials described as first responder drones.

Privacy advocates are arguing that these swap-outs do not address the main issue. Both companies build automated license plate readers that log ordinary drivers' movements. Replacing one with the other leaves that core capability intact.

The number of cameras may fall, they say, but the tracking does not stop.

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