Map exposes California’s shocking surveillance hotspots, and which cities are monitored the heaviest

Invoking feelings of the paranoid Rockwell song, “Somebody’s Watching Me,” California is blanketed with thousands of invasive surveillance cameras ready to capture personal information of passersby.

More than 117,000 automated license plate readers from Flock Safety are located across the country, including more than 16,000 in California alone, according to a DeFlock map. Flock’s cameras account for about 83% of the map’s total.

Most of the cameras in California are centered in Los Angeles or the metropolitan Bay Area. San Francisco County ranked third in the nation for cameras per road mile with 1,196 per 1,000 miles, according to the data.

Only New York County and Kings County in New York State ranked higher.

Orange County had the highest cameras per road mile in SoCal, coming in at 33rd in the nation, with 184 cameras per 1,000 miles. Los Angeles County came in at No. 59 in cameras per 1,000 miles, with 143.

The cameras are often placed on street lights and take pictures of passing vehicles and record their license plates. Those with access to data could piece together pictures and their locations to decipher where a vehicle was traveling.

STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE LATEST NEWS BY SUBSCRIBING TO MORNING REPORT NEWSLETTER

The readers convert the images into convenient searchable records by a vehicle’s license plate, make, model, color and distinguishing features. Location and time information would also be included.

California has the most of the cameras, with three other states trailing: Florida with 7,169, Georgia with 7,046, and Illinois with 5,822.

DeFlock is an open-source project that takes input from the public and draws from other sources to place the camera locations. Because of its public-input nature, the map is biased towards populated areas where more reporters can note locations of cameras.

Police have said the cameras can help track criminals and missing or stolen vehicles, but privacy advocates are alarmed. Some in Los Angeles worried the cameras could be used for immigration enforcement purposes or even personal tools for law enforcement.

“What happens to Flock Safety being a road map for mass deportation?” Hamid Khan with the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition told ABC 7. “What happens to Flock Safety that has become a tool, a weapon at the hands of cops, when not a single day goes by where we don’t find out that they’re stalking their exes, their romantic partners, their ex-wives, their estranged wives, even their extended relationships as well.”

Flock Safety leaders say their tools are not for mass surveillance or immigration enforcement and just serve public safety.

“I take nothing more seriously than the values we built this company upon, to give cities tools to uphold public safety, while enabling accountability and transparency,” Garrett Langley, chief executive and co-founder of Flock Safety, said.

“Public safety does not need to come at the expense of community values.”

The Los Angeles Police Department renegotiated its contract with Flock Safety over privacy and data-sharing concerns this month. Langley told The California Post that any privacy invasion concerns are far from the truth.

“We can’t see into a car. We can’t see a person’s heart rate. We cannot read the contents of their cell phone,” Langley told the Post. “What we can do is take a picture of their license plate.”

He also pointed to California safeguards that say ALPR data can’t be moved out of state.

“The customer has complete control over where the data goes and who they share with, with an asterisk —  so in a place like California, it is a violation of state regulation to take data, ALPR data out of California and move it to another state.”

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said the department would continue with the public’s privacy in mind as it evaluated new technologies.

“As we evaluate emerging technologies. the department will continue to assist on strong privacy protections clear accountability and responsible data stewardship,” McDonnell said.

The LAPD was still in negotiations with Flock Safety as of last week and Langley is “optimistic” the differences will be resolved soon and the company will be “back to normal business.”

California Post News: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, WhatsApp, LinkedIn

California Post Sports Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X

California Post Opinion

California Post Newsletters: Sign up here!

California Post App: Download here!

Home delivery: Sign up here!Page Six Hollywood: Sign up here!