In the past year, automated license plate readers have been popping up in Washington DC in droves, turning more city streets into a network of cameras capable of tracking where vehicles go.
The cameras, many of them made by Flock Safety, capture images of passing vehicles and can record information such as the vehicle’s license plate number, its make and model and the time and location of the sighting.
Police can search that information when investigating crimes, allowing officers to determine whether a vehicle connected to a case was spotted near a particular location.
The growing network of cameras has also raised concerns from privacy advocates, who say the technology gives police the ability to reconstruct people’s movements even when they are not suspected of a crime.
Knowing where those cameras are located is important, both for understanding how extensive the network has become and for knowing where police could potentially track a vehicle’s movements.
So how can you find out where Flock cameras are in Washington DC?
Where are there Flock cameras in Washington DC?
Neither Flock Safety nor the Metropolitan Police Department publishes a public map showing the locations of its license plate readers. That means residents have to turn to public records and other sources to piece together where the cameras are.
One of those sources is DeFlock, an open-source project that uses crowdsourced information to map automated license plate readers across the country.
To find cameras near you, open the DeFlock map and search for your neighborhood or address. The map shows reported ALPR locations, allowing you to see how many cameras are installed along the roads you regularly travel.
Flock Safety markets its cameras as a tool for tracking fugitives, missing people and stolen vehicles. But DeFlock DC, an advocacy group focused on limiting the use of automated license plate readers, says the cameras can also track the movements of people who are not suspected of a crime.
“MPD’s use of this technology means your movements are being logged, at all times and without a warrant, whether you are suspected of a crime or not,” it says. “This information is just one bad actor away from being misused, one data leak away from becoming public.”
Another site – FlockCameraLocations.com – also maps where each of the ALPR cameras are. It shows 144 in Washington DC, but says the true number is likely higher.
The site says the cameras are often placed at “city limits, major intersections, neighborhood and HOA entrances and retail parking lot exits — angled to photograph the rear plates of passing vehicles.”
But the maps are not necessarily complete. Because they rely on public records, reports and crowdsourced information, a camera that does not appear on the map does not necessarily mean there isn’t one nearby.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How to find out where Flock cameras are in Washington DC
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