StoryLab/Boston Globe, October 2026
Across Massachusetts, small black cameras are photographing passing cars, capturing such details as the license plate, the color, and the roof rack. Police can search those records in seconds, sometimes from the other side of the country. These automatic license plate readers are often referred to simply as Flock cameras after Flock Safety, an Atlanta-based manufacturer. But Motorola, Axon, and other companies sell them too. While license plate readers have been around for more than a decade, the widespread integration of AI and a searchable nationwide database have spurred adoption in recent years by law enforcement and even private companies including Home Depot and Lowe’s. Among the manufacturers, Flock’s cameras are the most widely used.
