Flock cameras draw opposition from across the political spectrum

0:00There are plenty of issues that Republicans and Democrats disagree on, but increasingly they are aligned on one thing. They want flock surveillance cameras gone. This is coming up more and more often as the midterm elections approach in races in Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin, and PR's Meg Anderson reports. Pretty much everybody is talking about flock these days. Those are the AI-powered license plate readers that allow police to track people over time. Here's Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat late last month. I would welcome bipartisan legislation to ban these across the state. This is not something in the public interest. And Florida's Republican Governor, Ron DeSantis, the week after. I'm all about having law enforcement have tools, but I don't want to have this become a surveillance state. Florida is revoking permits for the devices on its highways. Every month, flock cameras capture billions of license plates.

1:00Please say it helps them find stolen vehicles and missing people. But the technology has been abused. Officers have used it to stock ex-partners, for instance. flock recently changed some of its features to prevent abuse. But the concerns are proving sticky and largely bipartisan. Last week, Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott froze state spending for the cameras, and Senate Republicans are investigating concerns over police misuse. We're seeing opposition from the left, from MAGA Republicans, mainstream Republicans, Centris. Jay Stanley is a policy analyst at the ACLU. He says Americans really hate the idea of being surveilled. This grassroots uprising is just really remarkable. The reasons people on the left and right oppose flock are different. Progressives have pointed out that the technology has been used to track immigrants and people seeking abortions. Conservatives have warned the cameras could be used to create a national gun registry.

2:02People like conservative commentator Glenn Beck say it's a form of government overreach. You cannot allow this to happen. We are creating a panopticon. You don't know what that is. Look it up. A panopticon, so you don't have to look it up, is a circular prison that allows a single guard to see all the inmates at once. A lot of people find that unsettling, regardless of political party. Reason polling shows that more Americans now disapprove of flock cameras than approve of them. Meg Anderson and PR News.