Police departments launch new tool to increase transparency of license plate reader cameras

Our Take

Credit to WCNC for digging into how local police departments are pitching a new "transparency" tool for their license plate reader networks. On paper, letting the public see where these cameras are and how they're used sounds like progress. In practice, transparency portals built and controlled by the same agencies and vendors deploying the tech tend to show only what they want you to see — camera locations, maybe a policy PDF, rarely the search logs, audit trails, or breakdowns of who accessed your data and why.

That distinction matters. A map is not oversight. Real accountability means independent audits, hard limits on data sharing across agencies and states, and consequences when those limits get ignored — not just a friendlier UI bolted onto the same surveillance infrastructure. Flock Safety and its law enforcement partners have every incentive to make ALPR expansion look responsible while the actual footprint of these cameras keeps growing largely unchecked.

If you want a transparency effort that isn't run by the people doing the surveilling, check out our own crowdsourced map of ALPR locations nationwide, and see what you can do about the cameras near you at take action.