The Battle Between Law Enforcement Surveillance and Personal Privacy—the Pushback is Growing
Most often referred to as "flock cameras", they are also called license plate readers or surveillance cameras.
"The company chose the name "Flock" as a metaphor for collective community protection—inspired by the idea of animals or birds "flocking together" to keep each other safe in numbers. When founded in 2017, the startup initially marketed its automated license plate reading (ALPR) systems heavily to neighborhood watch groups and Homeowners Associations (HOAs) to safeguard local communities."
According to Finding Flock, there are 20,980 documented cameras across the state of California. We have the dubious honor of holding first place as the most documented state in all 52 states. To put it briefly, you are being observed.
"Technology gives law enforcement new tools, such as automated license plate readers, to help them investigate crimes. But sometimes, that technology can threaten the balance between public safety and privacy, prompting a discussion of how much government agencies should know about people’s lives." —Victoria Hoffmann, "Flock cameras: How a police tool sparked a surveillance revolt in the US", The Christian Science Monitor
San Diego has the most of any city in the state—732 surveillance cameras—but don't rest assured that you are safe from surveillance in the smaller cities and unincorporated areas. These cameras are abundant and pretty much everywhere. See every documented camera on the interactive map
Is this legal? Yes. Do we like being watched? No.
"California regulates automated license plate readers under Civil Code §§ 1798.90.5–1798.90.55. SB 34 reaches private ALPR operators as well as police: every operator must publish a usage and privacy policy, log each query, and public agencies may not sell or share plate data with non-public agencies. The statute sets no numeric retention cap, though Vehicle Code § 2413 limits Highway Patrol retention to 60 days."—ALPR law in California
Flock Safety and Motorola Solutions are the largest manufacturers of the units. And now that they've discovered this "money maker", you can be assured that more cameras will be popping up in-and-around the communities we live in.
"Volunteers have documented 151 automated license plate readers inside Chula Vista. That is the 18th-largest total among the 352 California cities indexed here, and 0.7% of the statewide total. At 3.0 per square mile it is more densely covered than 75% of the 2,386 US cities indexed nationally. Its 151 readers are more than 4 times the 31-camera median for the 352 California cities indexed here."—Finding Flock
Here's a quick look at the number of documented cameras in neighboring communities:
CITY | DOCUMENTED CAMERAS | PER SQUARE MILE |
Chula Vista | 151 | 3.0 |
Coronado | 111 | 1.4 |
El Cajon | 88 | 6.1 |
La Mesa | 20 | 2.2 |
National City | 73 | 9.9 |
San Diego | 732 | 2.3 |
Besides being watched like a lab rat, another big problem is that there's always someone somewhere who is willing to misuse the product.
"Backlash against the surveillance devices, which use AI to identify and store information about the comings and goings of vehicles, has surged nationally in recent months. Much of the concern has been about how law enforcement is using the data. Multiple stories of officers misusing the cameras to do things like survey ex-girlfriends or stalk actresses have surfaced. SDPD leaders have begun to release more information about how they used the system to conduct 115,000 searches this year. The reasons include reports of stolen vehicles, wanted suspects and shots fired, but one line item in particular sticks out: “other.” Officers used that tag to conduct searches about 4,000 times this year." —Times of San Diego
On the flip side—if people realize that they're being monitored 24/7, maybe they'll drive more courteously and behave more humanely. However they choose to act, there is no doubt that Big Brother will be watching.
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