California's expanding license‑plate camera network draws privacy scrutiny

An open‑source mapping project identified more than 117,000 Flock Safety automatic license‑plate readers across the United States, with over 16,000 deployed in California. The devices cover roughly 83 % of the state’s mapped roadway network, concentrating in densely populated areas such as Los Angeles, the Bay Area and San Francisco County, where camera density reaches the highest national levels.

Privacy advocates warn the system could be misused for immigration enforcement or mass tracking, while police argue the cameras help locate criminals and recover stolen vehicles. Meanwhile, in Corvallis, Oregon, residents mistakenly believed the city was using Flock cameras. City officials clarified that the overhead traffic detectors installed on Walnut Boulevard are manufactured by NoTraffic, not Flock. These detectors do not read license plates or facial features, store video for 30 days, and are accessible only to the Public Works department for traffic‑signal diagnostics, costing $25,000‑$30,000 per intersection.