License plate readers tracking drivers across South Florida
The short version: WPLG Local 10 confirms what we've been mapping for years: South Florida drivers are logged by license plate readers on nearly every route they take.
Our Take
Credit to WPLG Local 10 for putting a local news lens on something we track every day: the quiet buildout of a license plate surveillance net across South Florida. When a mainstream station tells its viewers "wherever you drive, there's a good chance you're being watched," that's not alarmism — it's just an accurate description of what Flock Safety and similar ALPR systems have turned into over the past few years.
The pattern the segment describes is the same one we see in city council minutes and vendor contracts nationwide: a camera goes up for one narrow purpose — a stolen car alert, a BOLO — and stays up forever, quietly building a permanent record of everywhere you drive, who you visit, and when. No warrant, no notice, no real limit on how long it's kept or who else gets to query it. South Florida residents deserve to know exactly which agencies are running these systems, how long the data sits in a database, and who's allowed to search it.
If you drive through Miami-Dade, Broward, or Palm Beach counties, odds are you've already been logged more times than you'd guess. Check our camera map to see what's near you, and if you want to push back on secretive ALPR deployments in your town, our take-action page has concrete steps for getting answers from local officials.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of WPLG Local 10, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.