Does Anchorage Have Flock Cameras?

Our Take

Credit to Keith McCormick for digging into a question we hear constantly: does my city have Flock? The answer for Anchorage right now is technically no — but the $12 million approval he surfaces is exactly the kind of budget line that turns into a camera network before most residents even know a vote happened. This is the pattern across the country: money gets approved under vague "public safety technology" language, and by the time anyone asks questions, poles are already going up.

That gap between approval and installation is the window where public pressure actually matters. Once a city council signs the check, the contract details, data-sharing terms, and retention policies are usually locked in with zero community input. Anchorage residents have a chance right now to ask what that $12 million actually buys, who gets access to the data, and whether it includes ALPR hardware at all — questions that get much harder to answer honestly once the cameras are live.

We'll be watching to see if Anchorage shows up on the map in the coming months. If you're in Alaska or anywhere else watching a similar budget line move through your city, don't wait for the cameras to appear before you start asking questions — check our take-action page for how to push back while there's still time to shape the outcome.