You should have a say in surveillance

Our Take

Nolan Southerland zeroes in on something a lot of local coverage skips past: in Burbank, nobody held a real public vote before Flock, Axon, and Vigilant cameras went up on the streets. City councils and police departments typically sign these contracts through procurement processes and closed-door briefings, not ballot measures or binding referendums. By the time residents notice the black-and-white poles on their corner, the system is already live and feeding data to a network most drivers have never heard of.

That matters because consent is the whole ballgame here. These aren't passive traffic cameras — they're logging every plate, every direction of travel, every pattern of life, and often sharing it across jurisdictions and with federal agencies with little transparency about retention or audits. A city council vote buried in a consent agenda is not the same as informed public buy-in, and once the infrastructure is in place, rolling it back is far harder than stopping it before installation.

Burbank isn't unique — it's the norm. Check our camera map to see what's already watching your own commute, and if you'd rather your city make this decision in the open instead of in a vendor contract, our take-action page has the tools to push back before the cameras go up for good.