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Knee-jerk Flock panic threatens a tool that’s making our cities safer

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We have met the enemy — and it is watching us. 

There’s a growing backlash against Flock cameras, the automated license plate readers that have become ubiquitous across the country. 

The cameras take images of license plates and store them in a searchable database that police departments can query in the course of their investigations. 

Opponents of the cameras consider them an instrument of Big Brother, who’s not only watching, but constantly recording and tracking.

Vandals have disabled and stolen the Flock cameras, and even shot them.

There’s a movement to get jurisdictions to cancel their contracts with Flock (the leading such company, but not the only one), and it’s met with some success. 

Los Angeles just let its contract with Flock lapse, citing “serious concerns around civil liberties and civil rights issues.” 

There’s a reason, though, that police departments so rapidly adopted the cameras — they are an extremely useful investigative tool.

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