Cities Replace Flock with Axon License Plate Readers
The short version: RiversCars' Driven To Live reports cities swapping Flock Safety for Axon license plate readers, proof that the surveillance vendor — not the surveillance — is what's up for debate.
Our Take
Credit to RiversCars for flagging this shift on Driven To Live: some cities are reportedly dropping Flock Safety in favor of Axon's license plate reader systems. That's a notable development, but let's be clear about what it actually means. This isn't a win for privacy — it's a vendor swap. The cameras stay up, the plates still get scanned, and the data still flows into a corporate-controlled network. The brand on the pole changes; the surveillance architecture doesn't.
Axon is best known for tasers and body cameras, and its push into ALPR territory shows how normalized this technology has become — so normalized that police departments now get to shop around for which company gets to track your movements. Whether it's Flock or Axon, the fundamental problem is the same: a growing web of cameras logging where you drive, often with little oversight, weak retention rules, and real potential for abuse or data sharing with outside agencies, including federal immigration enforcement.
If your town is debating a contract — with Flock, Axon, or anyone else — that's exactly the moment for residents to show up and ask hard questions about audits, retention limits, and access logs. Check our camera map to see what's already deployed near you, and visit our take-action page for tools to push back before the next vendor contract gets signed.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of RiversCars, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.