Little cameras on tall poles are causing a big uproar. The devices atop lampposts and traffic lights are Automated License Plate Readers that log where and when a vehicle was seen. Law enforcement agencies use the technology to search for vehicles tied to investigations. Critics say the police cameras conduct illegal surveillance, allow unconstitutional tracking without warrants, and break state privacy laws by sharing driver locations with out-of-state and federal agencies. Defenders say data is protected and law enforcement gains a valuable tool that helps recover stolen vehicles, identifies crime suspects and finds missing people.

An Atlanta company called Flock, which began installing a few dozen cameras in a Houston suburb around 2020, now has contracts with 7,000 police departments that pay for 120,000 of the cameras all around the United States. They record every passing license plate number and can identify the make, model, color and bumper stickers within seconds. Artificial intelligence is used to track vehicles as they pass multiple cameras. The company says it scans 20 billion license plates a month, including some for colleges and neighborhood homeowner associations. Data goes into an enormous database, creating a searchable national network.

Amid a growing backlash from privacy groups, citizens and politicians in both major parties, dozens of cities are cancelling or not renewing contracts. Concerns include data sharing with immigration agencies and high rates of false alerts. The American Civil Liberties Union, noting that less than 1% of scanned plates connect to any alleged crime, says the system watches everyone to find almost no one.

In Los Angeles, police flagged troubling rates of false stolen-vehicle alerts from Flock cameras — meaning officers stopped innocent people because a computer program misread plates. That city, the nation's second-largest, suspended the use of 138 Flock cameras last month in response to public backlash. National Public Radio reported that some cities found their data reaching U.S. Border Patrol, though local officials hadn't approved. In Virginia, law enforcement conducted nearly 3,000 searches related to immigration enforcement on the state's Flock Safety network over 12 months, according to the Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism.

Flock says: "Courts have long held that license plates observed in public are not private information. License Plate Readers automate the recording of information that is already visible to anyone on the road." – Company website

Critic says: "Seeing those cameras is a punch in the gut. We see them and it says you have no room to just be, to go about your day feeling lost in the crowd." -- Danielle Citron, University of Virginia law professor

Retired police chief says: "Automated License Plate Readers evolved from experimental tools to vital parts of modern policing. Their ability to scan thousands of license plates daily and instantly compare them to 'hotlists' of vehicles linked to criminal activity has proven extremely useful. It's about connecting the dots at speeds no human could achieve." – Billy Grogan of Dunwoody, Ga.