California HOAs Are Buying Up Flock License Plate Readers; Giving Cops Open Access To Them

Flock Safety — a relatively recent entrant to the surveillance tech arena — is branching out. It’s courting cops with cheap ALPR cameras, unproven claims about crime reduction, and a little lawbreaking of its own.

But it hasn’t abandoned its roots. It first hit the scene with plate readers it pitched to the Fun Police: homeowners associations and the even deeper pockets overseeing our nation’s many gated communities.

Flock tells HOAs and the heads of carefully curated communities things like “Flock Safety is the only security camera that stops property crime.” It’s a laughable claim. For one, Flock’s cameras are cameras and pretty much any security camera will have some effect on crime. Second, cameras don’t prevent crime. They simply make it easier to investigate crime.

The ALPRs sold to HOAs by Flock may have a bit more of a preventative effect. “May” is the operative word — one not found in Flock’s advertising materials. And, given what’s already been reported about Flock’s HOA inroads, it appears Flock views itself as just another cop shop, albeit one that has (until recently) courted private markets.

It apparently encourages private purchasers of its cameras and plate readers to regard themselves the same way. As this report by Eli Wolfe for The Oaklandside points out, Flock customers are doing what the city of Oakland can’t (at least at this point): filling neighborhoods with ALPRs and providing cops with access to whatever’s been collected.

read more: techdirt.com/…/california-hoas-are-buying-up-floc…