Gov. McKee calls for statewide pause on installing automated license plate readers
The short version: Rhode Island's governor is telling towns to hit pause on Flock cameras, proof that public pushback on ALPR sprawl is starting to reach the top of state government.
Our Take
When a sitting governor tells municipalities to slow down on license plate readers, that's not a small thing. WPRI's report on Gov. Dan McKee's call for a statewide pause on Flock Safety installations shows that the backlash against blanket ALPR surveillance isn't just coming from privacy advocates anymore — it's reaching people who actually have the power to hit the brakes.
Rhode Island is small, but the pattern is the same one playing out across the country: cities buy in fast, vendors promise crime-fighting magic, and only later do officials start asking who's watching the watchers, how long the data sits around, and which agencies get to query it. A pause gives towns a rare chance to ask those questions before the cameras are bolted to every intersection instead of after.
We'll be watching to see whether this pause turns into real oversight — audits, data-sharing limits, public reporting — or just a temporary lull before installations resume. Check our camera map to see what's already up near you, and if you want to push back locally, our take-action page has tools to help you do it.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of WPRI, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.