Axon says cops are asking it to make its automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) look different from Flock cameras because Flock vandalism has become so widespread, according to comments Axon’s CEO made in a now deleted webinar.
The comments highlight how Axon is trying to take advantage of sustained opposition against Flock's license plate cameras, with one law enforcement customer suggesting a camera redesign would “help with the optics while we batten down the hatches” as the backlash spreads.
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As 404 Media has reported, some towns and cities
are switching from Flock to Axon’s cameras
after cops did
lookups for ICE in Flock
, tracked a woman
who self-administered an abortion
, and have repeatedly
abused their access
to stalk ex-spouses. ALPRs constantly scan the license plate, brand, model, and other identifying features of all vehicles that drive past the camera and then make this timestamped log of activity searchable by law enforcement without a warrant.
In
an August 26 webinar
that was hosted on Axon’s official Vimeo page called “From backlash to trust,” Axon Chief Customer Officer Mike Wagers took a question from the remote audience and asked, “is there any talk — and there has been talk — to redesign Outpost, our fixed ALPR camera, to not look exactly like a Flock camera?”
“We are looking at [...] do we change the general shape,” Rick Smith, Axon’s CEO, replied.
At another point in the webinar, Smith brought
up Axon’s Lightpost product
, which is an ALPR and AI-powered camera that attaches to an existing streetlight. “Frankly, we’ve had a lot of customers saying, hey, we’d like something that looks different because there is all this blowback. It's harder to vandalize because it's up higher,” he said.
Smith also said, “We’ve had some people say they’d like to se
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