“18,000 Cities to Go After”: How Flock’s License Plate Readers Cameras Expand in the United States

Our Take

Credit to Jen's Two Cents for surfacing this clip, because the quote at the center of it says more than any press release ever will. When your CEO tells a room of industry insiders that people just "need somewhere to point" their anger and that the backlash will pass, he's not describing a PR problem — he's describing a strategy. Wait out the outrage, keep signing contracts, and let the sheer scale of expansion make resistance feel futile.

That "18,000 cities to go after" line is the part that should stick with you. Flock isn't slowing down to address the very real concerns about warrantless tracking, data sharing across state lines, and mission creep from stolen cars to immigration enforcement — it's treating those concerns as a temporary headwind on the way to blanket coverage of the country. Local governments approving these systems one council meeting at a time rarely grasp they're buying into a network that's designed to be everywhere, watching everyone, indefinitely.

If you want to see how far that expansion has already reached in your area, check our camera map, and if you're ready to push back before your city becomes the next data point in that 18,000, our take-action guide is the place to start.