Florida pulled every plate reader off state highway right-of-way, Texas froze state spending on Flock, and a bill to cut off federal money arrived with Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna on the same line.
The number. YouGov asked 20,563 adults on Aug. 24 whether they support license-plate readers "for law enforcement purposes in your community." Opposition came back at 46%, up from 33% a year earlier; support fell from 45% to 38%. Strong opposition alone went from 20% to 31%. ([TS]the movement is almost entirely Democrats and independents — Republicans barely budged, 29% to 33%.)
The week. Florida's transportation department revoked every plate-reader permit on state highway right-of-way on Aug. 31. Texas froze state spending on Flock on Aug. 28. A House bill to cut federal funding for the cameras arrived Sept. 3 with Massie (Rep-R Kentucky) and Khanna (Rep-D California) cosponsoring. Candidates for governor in Pennsylvania are running against the cameras from both parties.
The company. Flock Safety runs about 120,000 fixed cameras in 6,000 communities, roughly 20 billion plate scans a month, and says new signings are outpacing cancellations about 10 to 1 this year. A privacy group counts 214 localities gone since 2021, about 90 of them in August alone.
What next. A dozen cities vote on camera contracts or surveillance ordinances in November. Flock changed its own defaults on Aug. 13, cutting retention from 30 days to seven and requiring a written reason for every search.
Where the argument actually sits, in three numbers
- Randomized trials finding plate readers beat officers at recovering stolen cars: 1 of 2 — and in that one, the officers cut auto theft while the cameras did not
- Randomized trials finding they reduce crime: 0 of 2
- Officers the Washington Post counts as accused, charged or convicted of misusing them: 69