Flock cameras expand near daycares and k*ds' facilities

Our Take

Credit to Nunya Business for pointing the lens back at these cameras instead of just the usual police blotter angle. Putting ALPR hardware near daycares and other places where kids congregate isn't a neutral siting decision — it means a persistent log of which cars, which parents, and which routines surround some of the most vulnerable people in any neighborhood. That data doesn't stay local; it flows into a networked system that other agencies, and sometimes private actors, can query later.

The 'it's just for finding stolen cars' pitch gets a lot harder to sell when the cameras are posted outside a preschool. Once a plate-reader exists on a corner, it doesn't discriminate between a suspect's car and a parent doing daycare drop-off — everyone becomes a data point, logged and retained, with no kid or guardian ever consenting to that surveillance perimeter around their day.

This is exactly the kind of placement we track block by block. Check our camera map to see what's near your own schools and daycares, and if you don't like what you find, our take-action page has concrete steps for pushing back at the city council level.