SURVEILLANCE
AND You

Table of Contents

‘What is Flock Safet (®2)

(a surveillance tech company)

What are their products?.

(@9
(data about your movements)

®5)
(more public $$ every year)

‘Why should I care? .. ...(p 6)

(privacy matters)

Misuse and Social Cost.

..(p 8)
(this can get really bad really quick)

‘What can I do about it?. .(p 10)
(make a fuss!)
Citations & Further reading .. . (p12,13)

DESERTERS DISTRO

Run qick my door the o weld i b youl

ART BY JONAS GOONFACE.

VARSI SR N bt
Flock? ...A flock of what? Sadly, not geese.

‘We've written you this zine to introduce you to the
company Flock Safety. We get into what products they sell,
what they cost us as taxpayers, and most importantly: the
risks their model poses to you, your neighbors, friends,
and family.

Flock’s technology is a new kind of mass-surveillance
infrastructure: their product is their very searchable data
logs about our movements. This constant monitoring can
deter people from exercising their freedoms, like
attending protests or engaging in other forms of free
expression, which should concern all of us.

Our hope is that the information in this zine helps you to
educate, mobilize and act upon this vehicle of mass
surveillance.

Let's resist generalized surveillance becoming
commonplace!

“Our society is not one of spectacle but of surveillance.”

-Michael Foucault
What is Flock Safety?

Flock Safety is a Georgia-founded and Texas-based company
‘who traffics in surveillance technology, infrastructure, and
data. Their main operations involve installing automated
license plate readers (ALPRs) along roadways at major
intersections in order to collect images and data about passing
cars.

They use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to manage, sort, and search
that data, and sell access to that data to police departments on
a subscription model. They started out selling their cameras to
homeowner's associations, and later expanded to selling to
police departments. They claim to be successfully surveilling
70% of the US population’,

Flock was founded in 2017. As of 2025, Flock claims to operate
in over 5,000 communities across 49 US States, and perform
over 20 billion scans of vehicles every month. They were
valued at $7.5 billion USD in 2025'.

As a company, they have a spotty track record. Some of the red
flags we've noticed are:

They regularly disregard local permitting while
installing cameras:

Flock has an 'ask forgiveness, not permission' attitude to
getting their camera network up and running, and regularly
installs and operates their cameras before completing local
permits”. Last year, a Forbes investigation found Flock had
regularly failed to get the correct permits and licenses to
deploy its devices, appearing to break a number of local laws.
They lobby for and help create favorable regulatory
laws at the state government level * :

Flock spent $460,000 in lobbying in the first half of 2025",
In Wisconsin, there were no regulations for ALPR's on public
roadways before Flock showed up. Flock offered to work with
'WISDOT (WI Department Of Transportation) to create a
regulatory process, and did so. This represents a glaring
conflict of interest, and is a pattern of behavior that can be
traced across several states.

They've sponsored tailored research and doctored
studies:

Flock Safety published a study and press release claiming
that its ALPRs are “instrumental in solving 10 percent of
reported crime in the U.S.”* The study was done by Flock

employees and “overseen” by two paid researchers. One of the
researchers, Johnny Nhan of Texas Christian University, has
been critical of the study in retrospect.
Nahn told 404 media: “I personally would have done things
much differently [than the Flock researchers did]".
He found that “the information that is collected by the police
departments are too varied and incomplete for us to do any

type of meaningful statistical analysis on them.””.

What are Flock’s products?

The cameras:

Flock's cameras have a distinct look, and once you know what
to look for, you'll start seeing them everywhere. The cameras
are all black with a black solar panel. They're mounted on
either a stop-light, light pole, or a standalone black metal pole.
The cameras are usually powered by their attached solar
panels, and take photos of every car that passes by: recording
the license plate number, time, date, and location.

They're usually placed at hard to avoid choke points that force
cars to slow down to 45 mph or less so that the cameras can
capture a clear photo. The camera connects to the flock
national database via cellular LTE data. This cellular
connection could be vulnerable to hackers as Flock refuses to
allow their cameras to be independently tested for security
flaws, unlike all of Flock’s major competitors®.

The software & database:

Flock's cameras aren't just normal license plate reader cameras
— these cameras use Al to create a "unique vehicle fingerprint"
based on scratches, dents, aftermarket add-ons, bumper
stickers, and many other metrics. When you drive past one of
these cameras, Flock takes in all this data about your car and
makes an entry about you in their proprietary searchable
database. Each data entry on our movements is stored for
30-90 days depending on the subscription.

The Flock network is widely available and very susceptible to
misuse. It is accessible to subscribing police departments
across the country, major government agencies such as the
ATF, DHS, FBI and ICE, private entities such as home owners
associations, and The Home Depot Corporation. The databases
are also accessible to anyone with whom a user unlawfully
shares their login credentials with, which is documented as
happening® # !

What does it cost?

In 2025 A single Flock camera costs $3,000 per year, and Flock
can raise the annual subscription price at will. FOIA (Freedom
of Information Act) requests have shown very high payments
from police departments to Flock. Riverside county in
California, for example, has a $6,878,750 contract with them®.
Police departments can receive any combination of private
funding, tax-funded state grants, and start-up discounts for the
initial installation?, but the yearly subscription costs and
contract renewals fall to local taxpayers. Flock effectively
locks counties into dependence on a service with an ever-
increasing cost. Furthermore, police departments are liable in
lawsuits from any injuries or wrongful arrests related to
misuse or technical errors of Flock's technologies: those suits
are paid out by taxpayers, not by Flock.

Flock has positioned themselves in our communities so quickly
because they solicit our police departments directly. Most
departments add Flock services to their budgets without
stopping to ask the community if they want those services, or
making any effort to prove a need for them. Flock tells small
town police that their services will rapidly solve crime, and
even stop crime before it happens. There’s no data to support
this claim— it's only a fantasy that you and I pay for.
Why should | care?

“We thought we were doing the same things we'd always done
because the changes happened in slow motion, but happen they
did, and when we looked out the window we were someplace
else.”

— Diane di Prima, Memoirs of a Beatnik

They never asked us if we want this!
When new technology comes into our daily lives, we deserve
an opportunity to discuss whether we want it or not. Without
that opportunity, we're like frogs in hot water: we don't know
‘we're being boiled alive until it's too late. Companies like Flock
would love nothing more than for us to accept that it's natural
that our comings and goings will be tracked, but it isn’t!

Here are some questions we'd like folks who are noticing new
cameras in their towns to ask each other:

* Was public discussion held before those cameras were
installed? What kind of public discussion do we need to see
before our town buys cameras like these?

* Who will have oversight on how that system is used, and
who accesses it?

« What s the process if a problem occurs?

* Do we feel we can trust our current police staff with this
powerful tech? (Even if you like the current sheriff, one day
there will be a new sheriff in town!)

You have a legal right to privacy!

« Solong as your state has no laws against ALPR's, a
subscribing police department in another state can run
your plates from their office and see where your car has
been, anywhere in the Flock network.

* Mass surveillance of vehicles through the Flock network
circumvents traditional warrant processes: police can look
up all movements of any license plate at will, at an

¢ unprecedented scale, with no oversight on probable cause.
« There is low-to-no oversight on how police search Flock's
database, which raises major concerns about their legality
under the Fourth Amendment (this is currently being
litigated in court').

« The vehicle fingerprinting that Flock performs allows
searches by political bumper stickers down to specific
wording, which poses serious threats to folks' First
Amendment rights*'.

"But I never do anything illegal, I don't care if all my

movements are tracked!"

From deflock.me:
"You don't get to decide what looks suspicious tomorrow. Just
because you're not doing anything wrong today doesn't mean

'you won't be watched tomorrow. License plate cameras like
Flock don't know your intentions—only your movements. A
trip to a protest, a friend's house in a “high-crime” area, or
even a misread plate can flag you as “suspicious.” As history
has shown, when governments or third parties gain unchecked
surveillance powers, they're eventually used against people
who weren't doing anything wrong—until someone decided
they were. For example, until early in 2025, ALPRs weren't
used for tracking immigrants, legal or otherwise, but now they
are, despite policies prohibiting it."

"They already know everything there is to know about
me!”

It might feel like making a massive digital footprint is a fact of
life, but so much of our public / private landscape is brand

new: mass adoption of online life is less than 30 years old!
Governing bodies don't currently know everything about us,
and in the past gathering data about our lives was so important
to the FBI that they spent billions illegally tracing social
networks through their shameful COINTEL programs. Privacy

is the backbone of dignity and autonomy: don't give that up!
Misuse & Social Cost

Can we trust our police with this technology?

‘We don’t think it’s all right for our police departments to make
unquestioned decisions for us, like unilaterally purchasing a
Flock subscription. Many communities have longstanding
mistrust of police. Modern social movements against police
brutality highlight the reasons behind that lack of trust, and we
encourage you to read more about those perspectives if they're
new to you. One of the facets of police brutality is domestic
violence. Unfortunately, police officers committing domestic
violence is a well-documented occurrence. From writer
Andrew Burmon at Fatherly.com:

"Though data on police domestic violence is not only
notoriously difficult to gather but also skewed by a culture of
silence and intimidation, [the data] suggests that police officers
in the United States perpetrate acts of domestic violence at
roughly 15 times the rate of the general population.”

The relative lack of oversight in how police use Flock
technologies bodes poorly for victims and survivors of police
domestic violence. There have already been 2 reported cases of
police officers using the technology to stalk their ex-partners.
In Sedgwick, Kansas, the police chief used Flock's database to
track his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend’s vehicles 228
times over a 5 month period. In another instance, Police
Lieutenant Victor Heiar in Kechi, Kansas utilized Flock's
database to monitor where his estranged wife was located™'.

We flag this concern not to paint all police with the same
brush, but to name that something goes wrong when people
are given power over other people, and police domestic
violence is a systemic problem. If people in power abuse that
power, it is better to not give them more tools to do harm.

8
What about when the technology fails?

Misreads and misinterpretations of license plate data have
already had dire consequences for innocent people. Many
drivers have been held at gunpoint, attacked by K9s or falsely
arrested due to these errors',

Flock has many strong claims about the efficacy of their
products, but industry stress testing tells another story.
According to research published by IPVM —a security and
surveillance industry research group— Flock's cameras
misread the name of the issuing state on 1-in-10 license plates.
The researchers also found the readers logged the same car in
the same place multiple times, misattributed vehicle
characteristics, and that the make or model of the car was
regularly incorrect. Shortly after the report was issued, Flock
stopped selling its readers to IPVM for testing.

What about Immigration and Customs Enforcement?
In a recent blunder, members of law enforcement and
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) inadvertently
added a random person to a group chat called “Mass Text”
‘where they were using ALPRs in real time to track down
people targeted for their migration status'®. This inadvertent
exposure shows us how this technology specifically is being
used against migrants, and is a reminder that however
subjective and fickle “criminal” status is, the consequences of
criminalization with this kind of surveillance are swift and
dangerous for many members of our communities.

The backlash from this exposee, among other pressures,
pushed Flock to claim that they're “pausing” ICE's ability to
search their network. There's no clear way for Flock to prove
this to the public, and cooperating police departments are
continuing to grant ICE access illegally'"*.
What can | do about it?

Organize

Flock’s strategy is currently working so well for them because
people are kept in the dark about what is going on. Many
communities across the country have fought Flock and won
simply by raising awareness and starting a public
conversation. Austin TX, Denver CO, Oak Park and Evanston IL,
and Sedona AZ, have all cancelled their contracts with Flock
after communities campaigned for that change'®. With a little
bit of work, you could achieve the same in your city or county.
Financial commentators think community organizing against
Flock is a threat to their profit- we hope so too!

Print this Zine out, have some conversations with your
neighbors, and talk to your local elected officials about your
values around privacy and surveillance.

Research

‘We encourage folks to continue researching this issue: we've
been diligent in our research, but everyone should do their
own. Check out the ACLUs article: "How to Pump the Brakes on
Your Police Department's Use of Flock’s Mass Surveillance
License Plate Readers" to learn more'®!

The Deflock Project: deflock.me
This site has lots of further reading for the curious. They host a
valuable community resource; an ALPR map showing many
documented ALPRs across the US and elsewhere in the world.
Check this map to see if there are any Flock cameras or other
ALPRs in your area —though keep in mind that it is not always
up to date on newer cameras— the deflock map is created by
people like you who see ALPRs on roadways and map them.

10
The Rural Privacy Coalition (ruralprivacy.org)
This site is run by and for rural people across the country who
are organizing against technologies like Flock and the systems
that necessitate them. They've got FOIA request templates, info
session flyer templates, this zine, guides on how to hold
community info sessions, and more! Don’t be shy, small town
organizing tools can suit city folks just fine too.

Safety isn't found in surveillance. Meet your neighbors,
watch their cats while they're away, and ask for that cup of
sugar. We can keep each other safe!

they have computers to cast the I Ching for them
but we have yarrow stalks
and the stars

Diane di Prima, revolutionary letter #45

=~

pA
z

11
Citations

1.Equity Research. Flock Sty 2025) Sacra Private Markes Research.

2.WSDOT orders two Flock Safely. cameras removed due to lack of permits (2025.)
Kaws

3.Lobbying Expenditures for Flock Group.Inc. dba Flock Safet (2024) Wisconsin
Ethi ission

4.Client Profile: Flock Safety (2025) OpenSecrets.com

5. Analysis of Flock use by, Wisconsin cops reveals trends, raises questions (2025)
Wisconsin Examiner

6.New Study Finds that Flock Safet is Instrumental in Solving 10% of Reported
Crime in U.S. (2024) Globe Newswire

7.Let's Talk About the Flock Study That Says It Solves Crime (2024) 404 Media

8.Communities Should Reject Surveillance Products Whose Makers Won't Allow
‘Them to be Independently Evaluated (2024) ACLU

9.DEA agent used llinois cop's Flock liense plate reader password for immigration
enforcement searches (2025) Unraveled Press

10.Kansas police chief used Flock lcense plate cameras 164 times to track ex-
girlfriend (2024) The Wichita Eagle

11.Kechi police lieutenant arrested for using police technology to stalk wife 2022)
KWCH

12,0ty Sued Over Multiple Erroneous Flock LPR Camera-ased Stops (2024) IPVM

13, REQUEST FOR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTE CONSIDERATION (2023) Village of
Grafton, WI Municipal Report

14. Think Big. Start Small: 4 Tips to Fund New Police Technology (2025) Flock Safety

15. Federal Court Rejects Flock Safety's Late Bid to Join and Block I Lawsuit
Challenging Norfolk's Mass-Surveillance Cameras (2025) Instiute For Justice

16.1CE Adds Random Person to Group Chat, Exposes Details of Manhunt in Real-Time
120251404 Media

Surveillance License Plate Readers (2023) ACLU

20.SUBMITTAL TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS (2023) Riverside, CA County Board
Motion

21.Things to Know Before Your Neighborhood Installs an Automated License Plate
‘Reader (2020) Electronic Frontier Foundation

22.SEPD let Georgia. Texas cops llegally search city surveillance data on behalfof ICE
(2025) The San Francisco Standard

12
‘many thanks to our friends at Ruralprivacy.org, and o everyone who read early versions of this
zine and gave feedback

13
If we don't do anything, if we go along with
the status quo, we are going to have a
mass surveillance world.

-Edward Snowden