In 2026, the company Flock Safety came into widespread controversy over its automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras. These cameras, deployed all over the U.S., constantly track and record civilian car movement and store that information in databases. The company has received immense backlash in the form of vandalism.
Flock cameras are the most well-known ALPR cameras, among many other types of surveillance systems. Flock cameras have been around since 2017 when the company was founded. However, starting in 2020 and scaling in 2025-2026, the company has grown rapidly, deploying 120,000 cameras in over 6,000 municipalities in America. These cameras automatically read license plates and other vehicular features such as vehicle type, make, color, license plate state, missing or covered plates and other unique features like bumper stickers, decals and roof racks.
Surveillance cameras have been installed for years now, even inside of Germantown Academy. What makes the Flock cameras so controversial is that they passively record all civilian car movement at any time and store that information in a database accessible by officials at any time.
This surveillance technology has been deployed locally, with thousands in the state of Pennsylvania, and hundreds near Philadelphia. Germantown Academy families have been directly affected by them.
“My mom got a speeding ticket from them, and so I know that they’re prevalent. I don’t know how close they are from [Germantown Academy], but they’re at least on the highways,” Noah Garretson ‘27 said.
Unlike normal security cameras, which require a manual search through footage, usually only looking for suspects of crime, these ALPRs store data in an organized fashion so that information about any specific civilian car can be found easily.
Public distrust has led to major backlash. Generally, people don’t trust the company to responsibly use this collection of data. The public opinion has been that people don’t want a privatized company collecting and distributing their data; they want privacy and safety, and a company having a database of civilian movement instills fear.
Flock Safety has been receiving significant backlash from their controversial collection and use of private data. including vandalism of their cameras in over 36 states. Due to a general public dislike of mass surveillance, the pushback has led to the deactivation/cancellation of Flock cameras in over 50 cities.
“The vandalism and the response in this case are very much bipartisan. It’s not one side versus the other,” Librarian Mr. Roderick Thomas said.
The controversy of Flock cameras is just one piece in a large puzzle of concerns. Issues regarding privacy and integrating more technology into people’s daily lives are happening all over the world, and Flock cameras have been put into a mix of general discussions on AI, privacy and the age of technology.
Although the vast majority of people have expressed concern about this technology, many people’s lives are also too busy to express real resistance.
“So, perhaps those people who are most concerned about privacy rights and so on will take the time to write to government people or to protest.” Mr. Thomas said. “Some people, all they want at the end of the day, they just want to feel safe.”