What Are Automated License Plate Readers and Why Are People Worried? ALPRs are AI-powered cameras that automatically track specific cars, and there’s growing backlash against them.

• Automated License Plate Readers, known as LPRs, are a growing technology used in thousands of communities around the country, though backlash against them is growing.
• ALPRs are AI-powered cameras used to automatically track specific cars using identifiers like plate numbers, bumper stickers, roof racks, and more.
• Flock Safety, which is perhaps the most prominent player in the space, has been under considerable pressure over data-sharing concerns.

If you’ve noticed a growing number of little black traffic cameras in your area and wondered what the deal was, we’re here to explain what they are and why they’ve become so contentious. The cameras themselves are known as Automated License Plate Readers, or ALPRs. While there are several ALPR vendors, the most prominent by far is Flock Safety, which sells to more than 5000 law enforcement agencies and more than 1000 private companies, such as HOAs.

License plate readers themselves are nothing new; law enforcement agencies have used them for years, but the more recent emergence of AI-powered cameras is an escalation. That’s because, along with reading license plate numbers, Flock’s cameras record identifiers such as the make, model, and color of every car they see. The cameras can also use things such as a roof rack, bumper stickers, or prominent dents to identify unique vehicles.

While that incredible surveillance power may be enticing to some (namely, law enforcement agencies), pushback from communities concerned about a growing surveillance state is equally passionate. Flock Safety reports that its cameras are used in thousands of towns and cities, but in recent months, there has been significant pushback from communities concerned over privacy infringements and how the ALPRs are being used in connection with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests.

An NPR story from February detailed how easy it can be for data collected by Flock to be widely shared. Flock maintains that cities control their sharing settings. “Each Flock customer has sole authority over if, when, and with whom information is shared,” the company told NPR. But that doesn’t seem to be the case in reality, with leaders from several cities citing data sharing as a reason for reducing or ending partnerships with Flock.

According to a recent article in the Financial Times, 53 cities in 20 states have either deactivated Flock cameras or rejected bids to use them. The pushback from local authorities is rising, with 38 of those rejections occurring in the past six months.

Despite the pushback from communities, law enforcement agencies have defended Flock. According to the FT, one police department in Texas searched for data from more than 103,000 devices in Flock’s network as part of a homicide investigation. “We’ve been able to solve hundreds, if not thousands, of crimes that otherwise would remain unsolved if it wasn’t for the LPR technology,” a former police chief in Georgia told the outlet.

The FT article points out that privacy activists contest that claim, arguing that there is no independent research proving ALPRs can reduce crime.