More Than a Camera: How License Plate Readers Help Solve Major Crimes
The short version: Prof. Adam Scott Wandt's true-crime breakdown of the Kohberger case shows how ALPR data reconstructs anyone's driving history — which is exactly the problem.
Our Take
Prof. Adam Scott Wandt's video is a solid technical explainer, and we appreciate him walking through how detectives used ALPR data to reverse-engineer Bryan Kohberger's movements before the murders. That's a legitimate use of the technology in a specific, warranted investigation after the fact. But the true-crime framing skips over the uncomfortable part: the same 'historical driving pattern' reconstruction he describes as a forensic breakthrough is happening to every driver who passes a Flock camera, whether or not they're ever a suspect in anything.
That's the core issue we keep hammering on at DeFlock. These networks don't just catch one killer months after the fact — they build a rolling, searchable log of where millions of ordinary people drove, parked, and lived their lives, retained for weeks or months with no warrant required to query it. The Kohberger case is the marketing pitch. The daily reality is a nationwide grid quietly logging your commute, your doctor's visits, your protest attendance, indefinitely, just in case you become useful to someone later.
If a case like this makes you want to know how close this infrastructure is to your own front door, check our camera map to see what's already watching your neighborhood, and visit our take-action page for ways to push back on local ALPR contracts before they expand further.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Prof. Adam Scott Wandt, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.