Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) are surveillance systems that use high-speed cameras to capture images of license plates, convert them into searchable vehicle location data, and aggregate this information into centralized databases. Police and private companies—like Flock Safety—can search these databases to track vehicles across time and location, often without a warrant or any suspicion of wrongdoing.

Like many mass surveillance technologies that claim to be a silver bullet solution, ALPR systems are error-prone and deeply problematic—so much so that cities across the country are now rejecting Flock contracts outright. Federal oversight is sorely needed to protect the public from the inevitable abuses of ALPRs by federal and local law enforcement.