Organized Pushback Against FLOCK Safety
How People Across the United States Are Taking Action Against FLOCK Safety
On Sept. 9th, 2026, the Emory Wheel published an article discussing the removal of Flock Safety AI-powered license plate readers (ALPRs) at Emory University. It has become a serious point of contention for students over the past year, prompting a petition and community pushback through organized protest. According to the Emory Wheel, Assistant Vice President of University Communications Laura Diamond confirmed the university's contract cancellation on Sept. 1st, 2026. ALPRs have become massively controversial, with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) describing many notable concerns: Flock database security, backdooring of data to federal agencies, and malicious use of data by police resulting in numerous legal charges. This has prompted many community members nationwide to pressure officials to end relationships with companies that use AI surveillance.
Garrett Langley founded Flock Safety in 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia, with fellow Georgia Tech alumni: Matt Fuery and Paige Todd. According to their website, Flock Safety “...builds technology that helps communities deter crime, respond to emergencies, and investigate safety incidents. We believe communities shouldn't have to choose between public safety and privacy.” Interest groups like the National Police Support Fund argue that ALPRs are more efficient than manual plate checks and support the broader goal of crime prevention by reducing the burden on individual police officers.
In an interview with Fox News, Langley explains he envisions an ALPR on every street corner, “‘...an America where crime no longer exists.’” Critics argue that ALPRs on every street corner normalizes overheightened surveillance measures, contradicting Flock Safety’s claim that communities shouldn’t have to choose between public safety and privacy.
According to an Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) analysis of about 2.5 billion ALPR scans collected by law enforcement agencies in 2016 and 2017, only 0.50% of license plate scans were connected to a criminal hotlist or public safety concern. According to anti-ALPR advocacy group DeFlock.org, there are over 140,000 publicly identified ALPRs throughout all 49 U.S. states, and many cities (~153) have either cancelled their contracts with Flock Safety or deactivated the ALPRs. Additionally, DeFlock.org has a “Sharing Network” section on a map revealing that around 6,177 police departments, sheriffs, and federal agencies are contracting with Flock. Only 1,410 of those agencies have public transparency portals showing where they share data. Out of those 1,410 agencies that do have transparency portals, many are redacted, raising concerns that agencies contracting with Flock are intentionally withholding some or all of their data sharing with community members.
YouTuber Benn Jordan when speaking at a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism chaired by U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), raised Flock camera safety vulnerabilities, including physically hacking the devices to access live footage or modifying data, which can compromise data integrity. According to the EFF, Flock ALPRs have been used to track protester movement at significant demonstrations, including the 50501 protests in February, Hands Off protests in April, and No Kings protests in June.
In May 2025, the Johnson County Sheriff's Office in Texas searched over 83,000 Flock ALPRs within 6,309 networks across multiple state lines to track down a woman who self-administered an abortion. The Sheriff's office claimed the pretense for the search was a “welfare check,” and the court records surrounding the incident were described as a “death investigation of a ‘non-viable fetus.’” In the affidavit, the state took the stance that it could not criminally charge her for taking an abortion pill.
While Flock Safety expresses that it has no contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), multiple Flock searches have revealed that local police departments have informally searched on behalf of ICE for immigration enforcement purposes. These cases have prompted concerns about the potential misuse of Flock ALPR cameras, which has prompted community pushback.
The organized movement at Emory University that resulted in the removal of Flock ALPRs has contributed to larger national momentum to reject hyper-surveillance. In many states, ALPRs have been shot at, paintballed, obstructed, run over, and sawed down. Notably, social media has been used as a way to communicate ways to destroy, disable, or obstruct ALPRs, such as a Reddit user uploading a 3D print file that can obstruct camera view. Aside from vigilante efforts to dismantle Flock ALPRs, communities have been organizing to urge city officials to cancel or let Flock contracts lapse. In August 2026 alone, over 55 cities have canceled, deactivated, or rejected Flock ALPRs. In San Francisco, members of the Sunrise Movement protested outside the house of cryptocurrency billionaire Chris Larsen, who has directly contributed $9.4 million to expand the city's surveillance technology. The week of Aug. 16th-22nd, 2026 was also “National Week of Action Against ALPRs,” when over 485 DeFlock city movements organized against ALPRs. Many community members have organized protests, attended city council meetings, and pressured politicians to end their relationship with Flock and other ALPR companies. According to the EFF, in places like Austin, Evanston, and Eugene, organized action that presented documents outlining “discriminatory policing, immigration enforcement, threats to reproductive rights, and chilling effects on protest.”
Flock Safety is not the only competitor in the ALPR market; Axon and Motorola Solutions (Vigilant), and many more vendors are seeking to expand their ALPR products. In an interview on the Product Podcast, Jeff Kunins, Chief Product Officer and Chief Technology Officer, explained that Axon has explicitly taken advantage of controversies surrounding ALPRs, declaring itself to offer a more ethical approach.
Ultimately, people across the ideological spectrum are arguing that the expansion of Flock ALPRs is pushing the United States towards a surveillance state, putting civil liberties at risk. Emory University is only one instance of how many instances of public disobedience have put pressure on administrators, government officials, and ALPR companies. Despite Flock Safety’s massive $8.3 billion valuation, people in their communities are rejecting unwanted surveillance and utilizing collective power to meaningfully fight against Flock Safety and other ALPRs. As stakeholders fight for their relative interests, they are contributing to the national action against widespread monitoring and social control.