Newsweek is reporting that Automatic License Plate Readers, also known as Flock cameras, are sparking a growing backlash across the United States despite their credited role in a significant nationwide drop in violent crime. The publication noted that approximately 120,000 of these AI-powered cameras are currently in use, feeding data to local police and a national database that can be searched by vehicle descriptions. Flock claims its database has helped solve 700,000 crimes annually, a figure Newsweek finds hard to believe but acknowledges the technology's utility in crime fighting, citing examples like the Brown University shooting and a reduction in car break-ins in San Francisco.
The FBI reported the largest nationwide drop in violent crime in 90 years last year. Newsweek said this decline is attributed to various factors, including a return to basic policing, community policing initiatives, and the increasing use of AI-powered surveillance technologies like ALPRs in cities such as Memphis and Baltimore.
However, Newsweek highlighted a public "Luddite mood" against Big Tech and surveillance, leading to vandalism of Flock cameras. Concerns stem from instances of police misusing the database, such as an officer running his estranged wife's plate 700 times, and a Florida woman being wrongly detained for two weeks due to an AI misidentification. The publication also raised broader fears about a pervasive surveillance state, recalling how Kentucky used plate readers to enforce COVID-19 lockdowns, and questioned the trade-off between crime fighting and collective privacy rights.
President Donald J Trump is described as uncharacteristically unresponsive to the voter backlash against Big Tech, which Newsweek attributes to his personal financial interests in the industry. Separately, Newsweek noted that Trump's "apocalyptic threats" toward Iran have not been effective.