Cities around the country are ditching Flock’s automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras, and
replacing them with equivalent cameras
from law enforcement contracting giant Axon. That move in large part comes in response to 404 Media’s coverage of how local cops performed lookups in Flock
for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
, and how a cop in Texas searched Flock cameras nationwide to
look for a woman who self-administered an abortion
.
That brings up questions: what are cities and law enforcement agencies using Axon ALPRs for? And who are they in turn sharing that data with? 404 Media has started to find out, but needs the help of local residents and community members to figure out what is happening across the country.
👮
Have you obtained Axon ALPR activity logs? We think this information is important so we can learn how police are using Axon's surveillance cameras. Please feel free to send the files to us! You can email joseph@404media.co.
Over the last few weeks, 404 Media has filed requests with various cities and police departments for Axon “activity reports” and “sharing reports.” These show in granular detail when a police officer searched Axon’s ALPRs, the name of the officer, their badge number, the license plate they reached, and, most importantly, the stated reason why. These activity reports are essentially Axon’s version of Flock’s “network audits,” which has been the basis of much of 404 Media’s Flock reporting, and local and national media outlets’ around the country. You can see an example of one here:
404 Media redacted the plates in this screenshot.
Another screenshot from an Axon activity report.
So far, 404 Media has obtained activity reports from the Benton County Sheriff's Office, WA; Falmouth Police Department, ME; Johns Creek Police Department, GA; Ocean Shores Police Department, WA; Pleasanton Police Department, TX; and Red Wing Police Department, MN.
But we need your help. Has your local police department or city switched t
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