This city has 568 plate readers mapped. Yours might have none.
The short version: Flock U's short makes a simple but crucial point: a blank spot on any ALPR map almost always means under-reporting, not an absence of cameras.
Our Take
Flock U's video nails something we harp on constantly: 568 mapped readers in San Francisco isn't a sign that city is uniquely surveilled, it's a sign someone actually bothered to document it. A town showing zero cameras almost never means zero cameras. It means nobody's looked up, taken a photo, and logged the pole. Crowdsourced mapping is only as good as the crowd, and most of America's ALPR network is still invisible precisely because reporting takes effort most drivers never think to make.
That's the real value of tools like this and of our own camera map: they turn passive suspicion into documented fact. A pin with a direction, a mounting type, and an operator name is worth more than a hundred comments saying 'I think there's one near my exit.' Every camera cataloged is one less blind spot for departments and vendors like Flock Safety to hide behind when they claim these systems are narrowly scoped and rarely networked.
Route-avoidance apps are a personal workaround, not a fix, but the underlying habit they encourage, actually looking at the poles you drive past, is exactly what this fight needs more of. If you spot a reader that isn't logged anywhere, don't just note it for yourself. Get it on the record and check our take-action page for how to push back on the infrastructure once it's mapped.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Flock U, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.