Police Are Hiding Their Use of Flock Surveillance Cameras

A usage policy for Flock license plate reader cameras tells police not to talk about the cameras:

When cops use Flock to arrest someone in Wapello County, Iowa, they don’t want them to know. A usage policy for the automated license plate reader cameras in the county tells police, in no uncertain terms, to keep them a secret: “DO NOT MENTION ALPR USAGE TO THE OCCUPANTS OF THE VEHICLE,” the policy document reads. “DO NOT MENTION ALPR USAGE IN YOUR REPORT OR COMPLAINT UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.”

This reminds me of IMSI-catchers (Stingray was the most popular) a couple of decades ago. Police would go to even more extremes to hide their usage.

Tags: cars, law enforcement, police

Posted on August 20, 2026 at 5:48 AM • 21 Comments

Comments

Snarki, child of Loki • August 20, 2026 7:12 AM

“If they’re not doing anything wrong, they have nothing to hide”

Seems apropos for this.

Q • August 20, 2026 8:02 AM

When people feel shame, and know what they are doing is wrong, then they don’t want to talk about it.

When a perpetrator knows that if others find out about what they are up to they will get angry and upset and want to hurt the perpetrator, then the perpetrator would rather it not be mentioned.

I can’t imagine why Flock don’t want to talk about what they are doing. It is a big mystery to me. I’m sure it’s all fine, right? /s

Rontea • August 20, 2026 9:16 AM

We are told that the camera does not judge, that it only observes—but what is an observation weaponized in secrecy if not the silent hand of servitude? The citizen, who believes himself free because he can still drive to the market, is already under the quiet dominion of the new clerics: not priests of God, but priests of data. And yet, they do not even dare admit their liturgy; they whisper in manuals, “Do not mention the sacrament of the machine.” I pity a world where the soul of man is smaller than the lens of a camera, and the truth must sneak through public records like a beggar asking for bread.

Bob Dobbs • August 20, 2026 9:56 AM

We need codified transparency on ALL uses of domestic surveillance like yesterday!

KC • August 20, 2026 10:41 AM

It’s neat that a 404 Media reader made the public records request for Wapello county’s ALPR SOP.

Would be awesome to have an ALPR SOP repository for the 18,000 police depts across the country.

I don’t think this most recent 404 development is on Wikipedia yet, but always some fresh drama here. 🙂

Oh, hey. Some more new reporting: this on Flock’s AI assistant tool – OS Investigate.

It ships with 69 pre-made prompts, eg:

52 List all persons that have been arrested more than two times in the last 2 years for any offense. Do not count narcotics related arrests. (further map their addresses, provide call history at each location, and do a workup on the top 3 individuals)

The software can also do a “workup.” It’s being described as a background check that can pull up police records, contact details, relatives, online accounts, etc. So maybe a little people tracking.

KC • August 20, 2026 10:42 AM

Here it looks like Flock’s CEO Garrett Langley recently spoke at a Ted Talk.

https://www.flocksafety.com/blog/flock-safety-ceo-garrett-langley-ted2026

“Snitching-ass startup raises $10 million to privatize the surveillance state” is a review he framed and showed his mother, at minute 6:15.

In a brief Q&A when asked how many times he or his team heard about something being done with their technology that made him uncomfortable, Langley offers: Three times last year.

too many secrets • August 20, 2026 10:48 AM

This should be taught in grade school:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens%27_Commission_to_Investigate_the_FBI

The Citizens’ Commission to Investigate the FBI was an activist group in the United States during the early 1970s. Their only known action was breaking into the field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) located in Media, Pennsylvania on March 8, 1971, and stealing over 1,000 classified documents.

Anonymous • August 20, 2026 10:48 AM

Say it with me friends:

CO INTEL PRO

bug a boo • August 20, 2026 10:54 AM

COINTELPRO Never Really Ended, It Just Changed Identity

https://techrights.org/o/2014/01/16/cointelpro-changed-names/index.shtml

CIVIL disobedience is necessary as means of challenging abuse of power. Sometimes people may also have to break the law in order to expose violations of the law (at a much higher level, with crimes of high severity). Now that we remember Martin Luther King (born January 15th, 1929) we should recall that the FBI recorded him and then played a recording back to him, urging him to commit suicide. Surveillance was used for blackmail as part of what we now know as COINTELPRO.

How do we know about COINTELPRO? Well, some professors and others chose to investigate what the FBI had been doing at the time. We now know this because they came forward, revealing that anti-war (or pro-peace) activism was treated as some kind of crime by the FBI. Now that the NYPD mimics the FBI [7] (CIA agents were reported to be embedded in NYPD) and the CIA uses FBI staff [8] we should all be concerned. Moreover, we can see how in New York City (i.e. NYPD) protest against corruption by banks is now treated like terrorism and activists are put under surveillance on behalf of banks. This is beyond unjust; it’s tyrannical. The domestic population is treated like an enemy if it wants justice.

A year ago we discovered that Aaron Swartz too had been put under secret surveillance as though he was some kind of terrorist. He was then crushed and bullied by the system, to the point where even his parents’ house was in jeopardy (collective punishment), and then he committed suicide. The FBI could not make Martin Luther King commit suicide, but eventually he was assassinated anyway.

People now remember Aaron Swartz and even march in his memory (see some new revelations of cover-up in the news). This case showed how far the system of surveillance still goes and who it really targets. It’s not about terrorism, it’s about control. The corporations use surveillance to impose their will on everyone and hound dissidents.

Steve • August 20, 2026 11:24 AM

For some reason I am reminded of the Fawlty Towers episode “The Germans.”

“Don’t mention the war.”

Strange how the mind works.

lurker • August 20, 2026 2:28 PM

@KC

ALPR on a hiking trail? Is that what they call gone to the dogs?

C'est Moi • August 20, 2026 2:36 PM

@Bruce,

“this reminds me of StingRays”

of course they’re denying it, still, today, in 2026, and if you
happen to know how to “listen” or “hear” the “chatter(noise)”
then you’ll be sent to a shrink and he’ll be asked to diagnose
you as “delusional-persecutory type”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecutory_delusion

and while you are there with the shrink, at his office,
they’ll make sure to pay a visit to your home.
Remember THAT RED TRUCK at 11:50am?
Before that, it was parked down the road for almost an hour
stalking, waiting for me to leave my house.

“Thank God 4 little shodans”

AND WE THE SH33PLE ARE PAYING FOR IT ALL!

Bcs • August 20, 2026 3:23 PM

This is very close to parallel construction.

If I was a judge (very unlikely) that works with that department I’d start keeping a list of questions that I’d ask the investors for every single case I see.

And I’d make it very clear that any time I have reason to think their general policy is to avoid talking about something it will result talking about it with me, under oath and on the public record becoming unavoidable.

Taters • August 21, 2026 3:12 AM

“I WILL FINISH THE GAME!”

r • August 25, 2026 5:52 PM

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49437741

“man charged with 3 felonies for destroying FAKE flock camera”

in the other direction, i would charge seminole? county with 3 charges of violating the spirit of the constitution.

ResearcherZero • August 26, 2026 1:25 AM

Darth Vader backed the use of Flock surveillance at public council meetings.

“We do not need parks. We do not need libraries. We do not need daycare centers. We do not need homeless shelters,” said Vader. “All we need is money for our stormtroopers. And anyone that disagrees is part of the rebel alliance and scum, and they should be taken away immediately.”

Vader has spoken a couple of times to endorse the extended capabilities of Flock cameras.

https://gizmodo.com/darth-vader-flock-city-council-2000801054

ResearcherZero • August 28, 2026 1:57 AM

A cop used Flock to illegally surveil other cops and digitally stalk a former partner.

https://www.wired.com/story/a-georgia-cop-used-flock-to-track-2-other-cops-his-ex-and-her-friend/

ResearcherZero • August 28, 2026 2:00 AM

@bug a boo

Undeclared foreign agents working for adversarial nations are also embedded in the police.
They have been given access to some very dangerous tools and the authority to abuse them.

ResearcherZero • August 28, 2026 4:33 AM

Flock cameras have not improved the ability of police to solve crimes.
Most crimes continue to remain unsolved and unaddressed by police.

https://futurism.com/future-society/flock-surveillance-atlanta-fbi-data-crime-case-solve

Police regularly fail to respond to requests for help with serious and violent crime. Instead law enforcement spend much of their time and budget engaged in what is termed “proactive policing,” a largely pointless waste of time which fails as a public safety strategy, leaving community members without assistance and in danger.

This reality is a far different picture than what is portrayed to the public. Prosecutors cherry-pick cases to boost their stats, leaving many violent crimes unaddressed, even when there is enough evidence to convict the accused offender. When combined with the lack of response from police, it creates a pattern of repeat offending without consequence, where members of the public and business owners no longer have faith police will respond.

The lack of assistance from police creates the impression that crime is out of control and that law enforcement is too preoccupied with playing with its toys to help people in need.

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/police-are-not-primarily-crime-fighters-according-data-2022-11-02/

Thomasjames17 • August 30, 2026 3:31 AM

The Wapello County policy’s explicit directive to silence officers about ALPR usage underscores a troubling trend of covert surveillance. This echoes the clandestine tactics of the past, where IMSI‑catchers were similarly obscured. Such opacity hampers the public’s ability to conduct a thorough Arrest Records Search eroding trust. A publicly transparent reporting framework is essential if law enforcement is to maintain legitimacy while safeguarding civil liberties.

- • August 30, 2026 8:55 AM

@ Moderator,

The comment from “Thomasjames17” is unsolicited advertising for,

https://arrestsss.org/

And appears in three different posts within 3mins suggesting preprepared text with cut-n-paste posting,

1, https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/08/police-are-hiding-their-use-of-flock-surveillance-cameras.html/#comment-457289

2, https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/08/police-are-hiding-their-use-of-flock-surveillance-cameras.html/#comment-457290

3, https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/08/friday-squid-blogging-truckload-of-squid-spills-in-rhode-island.html/#comment-457291