Remove All Flock Surveillance Cameras from Anne Arundel County, Maryland
The Issue
To: The Anne Arundel County Executive, the Anne Arundel County Chief of Police, and the Anne Arundel County Council
We call for the termination of Anne Arundel County’s contracts with Flock Safety, removal of all County-operated Flock cameras, and an independent public accounting of how residents’ vehicle-location data have been collected, accessed, and shared.
Anne Arundel County residents should be able to travel to work, visit family, attend religious services, seek medical care, and go about their daily lives without having their movements routinely recorded in a searchable government surveillance database.
Yet Anne Arundel County has deployed an extensive network of automated license plate readers manufactured by Flock Safety. According to the Anne Arundel County Police Department, its automated license plate reader systems capture license plates, vehicle images, dates, times, and locations. Flock records are retained for 30 days.
Police describe these cameras as valuable tools for identifying stolen vehicles, locating missing persons, and investigating serious crimes. Those are legitimate public safety objectives.
But a technology’s usefulness does not, by itself, resolve questions about its necessity, proportionality, privacy implications, or susceptibility to abuse.
The concern is not simply what these cameras record today. It is what a growing network of cameras, searchable databases, and increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence makes possible tomorrow.
From license plate readers to powerful surveillance networks
In August 2026, WIRED revealed that Flock Safety had developed an artificial intelligence platform called OS Investigate that goes far beyond checking license plates against lists of stolen or wanted vehicles.
According to WIRED’s examination of the software, the technology can be used to analyze patterns of movement, identify people who frequently visit particular locations, find potential witnesses, and identify apparent associations between individuals based on where their vehicles travel.
This raises an important question: When does a legitimate investigative tool become a system for monitoring the everyday movements and associations of ordinary people?
There is no public evidence cited here that Anne Arundel County has deployed OS Investigate. But Flock’s development of these capabilities demonstrates why existing contracts, future upgrades, and the scope of authorized surveillance deserve public scrutiny.
Nationwide reporting has exposed serious risks
Investigative reporting has documented troubling uses of Flock’s surveillance infrastructure elsewhere in the country.
Federal access: 404 Media reported that Customs and Border Protection had access to more than 80,000 Flock cameras nationwide, raising questions about whether local governments fully understood the extent of outside-agency access.
Sensitive investigations: Reporting has documented Flock database searches associated with immigration enforcement and an investigation involving a woman who had an abortion.
Personal misuse: Investigations have uncovered instances of law enforcement officers allegedly using license plate reader systems to track former romantic partners or other individuals for personal reasons.
Extensive data sharing: WIRED documented how one Georgia police department’s Flock data became available to more than 2,000 organizations.
These incidents do not establish that Anne Arundel County officers have engaged in similar conduct. They do, however, illustrate the consequences when surveillance capabilities expand faster than public oversight.
Communities across America are reconsidering Flock
According to an August 2026 Ars Technica investigation citing data compiled by Secure Justice, 214 cities and counties had ended Flock relationships since 2021, with approximately 90 terminations recorded in August 2026 alone.
Those decisions reflect growing concerns about surveillance, data sharing, costs, and misuse.
Anne Arundel County now faces the same fundamental questions about the proper boundaries of police surveillance.
Privacy and constitutional rights matter
The Fourth Amendment protects Americans against unreasonable government searches and seizures. The freedom to move about without unnecessary government monitoring is also an important civil liberty.
Although photographing license plates on public roads is not automatically unconstitutional, the widespread collection, aggregation, retention, and analysis of location information raise substantially different privacy questions.
A single camera records a vehicle passing one location. A network of cameras can reveal patterns of movement over time.
Those patterns can potentially disclose where someone works, worships, receives medical treatment, participates in political activities, or spends time with family and friends.
Residents should not have to demonstrate that they are innocent of wrongdoing to question why their movements are being systematically recorded.
What we are asking Anne Arundel County to do
We request that County leadership:
Terminate the County’s Flock Safety contracts and discontinue the operation of County-controlled Flock surveillance cameras.
Remove all County-operated Flock cameras from public roads, rights-of-way, and other County-controlled locations, subject to applicable legal and contractual requirements.
Immediately suspend additional Flock deployments, renewals, and expansions while termination and removal are arranged.
Commission an independent public audit of Flock contracts, expenditures, data-sharing agreements, access permissions, search logs, and compliance with Maryland law.
Disclose which outside agencies have been permitted to access County Flock data, including any federal access, and document whether County personnel have queried outside Flock databases.
Ensure lawful deletion of retained Flock data when the program ends, preserving records required for pending investigations, litigation, public records obligations, and independent audits.
Hold a public hearing addressing surveillance technology, privacy protections, and the appropriate limits of automated vehicle tracking.
Public safety should not require pervasive surveillance
This petition is not an argument against law enforcement or the responsible use of investigative technology.
It is a request to recognize that technology capable of tracking millions of ordinary vehicle movements presents risks that cannot be dismissed simply because it may also help solve crimes.
Anne Arundel County has an obligation to protect residents from crime. It also has an obligation to protect their privacy, civil liberties, and confidence in government.
We call on the Anne Arundel County Executive and Chief of Police to end the County’s Flock Safety program, remove its cameras, and provide the public with a complete accounting of the surveillance system that has been operating in our communities.
Public safety and constitutional liberty are not mutually exclusive. Anne Arundel County should be accountable for both.
Sources and further reading
Anne Arundel County Police Department — Automated License Plate Reader Program: https://www.aacounty.org/police-department/real-time-information-center/automated-license-plate-reader-program
WIRED — Flock Has a Powerful New AI Tool for Police: https://www.wired.com/story/flock-safety-os-investigate/
WIRED — How an Atlanta Suburb Shared Flock Data with More Than 2,000 Organizations: https://www.wired.com/story/how-an-atlanta-suburb-ended-up-sharing-flock-data-with-more-than-2000-organizations/
404 Media — CBP Had Access to More Than 80,000 Flock AI Cameras Nationwide: https://www.404media.co/cbp-had-access-to-more-than-80-000-flock-ai-cameras-nationwide/
404 Media — Flock Removes States from National Lookup Tool After ICE and Abortion Searches Revealed: https://www.404media.co/flock-removes-states-from-national-lookup-tool-after-ice-and-abortion-searches-revealed/
Ars Technica — Cities Terminate Flock Contracts at Record Pace: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/08/cities-terminate-flock-contracts-at-record-pace-in-august/
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The Issue
To: The Anne Arundel County Executive, the Anne Arundel County Chief of Police, and the Anne Arundel County Council
We call for the termination of Anne Arundel County’s contracts with Flock Safety, removal of all County-operated Flock cameras, and an independent public accounting of how residents’ vehicle-location data have been collected, accessed, and shared.
Anne Arundel County residents should be able to travel to work, visit family, attend religious services, seek medical care, and go about their daily lives without having their movements routinely recorded in a searchable government surveillance database.
Yet Anne Arundel County has deployed an extensive network of automated license plate readers manufactured by Flock Safety. According to the Anne Arundel County Police Department, its automated license plate reader systems capture license plates, vehicle images, dates, times, and locations. Flock records are retained for 30 days.
Police describe these cameras as valuable tools for identifying stolen vehicles, locating missing persons, and investigating serious crimes. Those are legitimate public safety objectives.
But a technology’s usefulness does not, by itself, resolve questions about its necessity, proportionality, privacy implications, or susceptibility to abuse.
The concern is not simply what these cameras record today. It is what a growing network of cameras, searchable databases, and increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence makes possible tomorrow.
From license plate readers to powerful surveillance networks
In August 2026, WIRED revealed that Flock Safety had developed an artificial intelligence platform called OS Investigate that goes far beyond checking license plates against lists of stolen or wanted vehicles.
According to WIRED’s examination of the software, the technology can be used to analyze patterns of movement, identify people who frequently visit particular locations, find potential witnesses, and identify apparent associations between individuals based on where their vehicles travel.
This raises an important question: When does a legitimate investigative tool become a system for monitoring the everyday movements and associations of ordinary people?
There is no public evidence cited here that Anne Arundel County has deployed OS Investigate. But Flock’s development of these capabilities demonstrates why existing contracts, future upgrades, and the scope of authorized surveillance deserve public scrutiny.
Nationwide reporting has exposed serious risks
Investigative reporting has documented troubling uses of Flock’s surveillance infrastructure elsewhere in the country.
Federal access: 404 Media reported that Customs and Border Protection had access to more than 80,000 Flock cameras nationwide, raising questions about whether local governments fully understood the extent of outside-agency access.
Sensitive investigations: Reporting has documented Flock database searches associated with immigration enforcement and an investigation involving a woman who had an abortion.
Personal misuse: Investigations have uncovered instances of law enforcement officers allegedly using license plate reader systems to track former romantic partners or other individuals for personal reasons.
Extensive data sharing: WIRED documented how one Georgia police department’s Flock data became available to more than 2,000 organizations.
These incidents do not establish that Anne Arundel County officers have engaged in similar conduct. They do, however, illustrate the consequences when surveillance capabilities expand faster than public oversight.
Communities across America are reconsidering Flock
According to an August 2026 Ars Technica investigation citing data compiled by Secure Justice, 214 cities and counties had ended Flock relationships since 2021, with approximately 90 terminations recorded in August 2026 alone.
Those decisions reflect growing concerns about surveillance, data sharing, costs, and misuse.
Anne Arundel County now faces the same fundamental questions about the proper boundaries of police surveillance.
Privacy and constitutional rights matter
The Fourth Amendment protects Americans against unreasonable government searches and seizures. The freedom to move about without unnecessary government monitoring is also an important civil liberty.
Although photographing license plates on public roads is not automatically unconstitutional, the widespread collection, aggregation, retention, and analysis of location information raise substantially different privacy questions.
A single camera records a vehicle passing one location. A network of cameras can reveal patterns of movement over time.
Those patterns can potentially disclose where someone works, worships, receives medical treatment, participates in political activities, or spends time with family and friends.
Residents should not have to demonstrate that they are innocent of wrongdoing to question why their movements are being systematically recorded.
What we are asking Anne Arundel County to do
We request that County leadership:
Terminate the County’s Flock Safety contracts and discontinue the operation of County-controlled Flock surveillance cameras.
Remove all County-operated Flock cameras from public roads, rights-of-way, and other County-controlled locations, subject to applicable legal and contractual requirements.
Immediately suspend additional Flock deployments, renewals, and expansions while termination and removal are arranged.
Commission an independent public audit of Flock contracts, expenditures, data-sharing agreements, access permissions, search logs, and compliance with Maryland law.
Disclose which outside agencies have been permitted to access County Flock data, including any federal access, and document whether County personnel have queried outside Flock databases.
Ensure lawful deletion of retained Flock data when the program ends, preserving records required for pending investigations, litigation, public records obligations, and independent audits.
Hold a public hearing addressing surveillance technology, privacy protections, and the appropriate limits of automated vehicle tracking.
Public safety should not require pervasive surveillance
This petition is not an argument against law enforcement or the responsible use of investigative technology.
It is a request to recognize that technology capable of tracking millions of ordinary vehicle movements presents risks that cannot be dismissed simply because it may also help solve crimes.
Anne Arundel County has an obligation to protect residents from crime. It also has an obligation to protect their privacy, civil liberties, and confidence in government.
We call on the Anne Arundel County Executive and Chief of Police to end the County’s Flock Safety program, remove its cameras, and provide the public with a complete accounting of the surveillance system that has been operating in our communities.
Public safety and constitutional liberty are not mutually exclusive. Anne Arundel County should be accountable for both.
Sources and further reading
Anne Arundel County Police Department — Automated License Plate Reader Program: https://www.aacounty.org/police-department/real-time-information-center/automated-license-plate-reader-program
WIRED — Flock Has a Powerful New AI Tool for Police: https://www.wired.com/story/flock-safety-os-investigate/
WIRED — How an Atlanta Suburb Shared Flock Data with More Than 2,000 Organizations: https://www.wired.com/story/how-an-atlanta-suburb-ended-up-sharing-flock-data-with-more-than-2000-organizations/
404 Media — CBP Had Access to More Than 80,000 Flock AI Cameras Nationwide: https://www.404media.co/cbp-had-access-to-more-than-80-000-flock-ai-cameras-nationwide/
404 Media — Flock Removes States from National Lookup Tool After ICE and Abortion Searches Revealed: https://www.404media.co/flock-removes-states-from-national-lookup-tool-after-ice-and-abortion-searches-revealed/
Ars Technica — Cities Terminate Flock Contracts at Record Pace: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/08/cities-terminate-flock-contracts-at-record-pace-in-august/
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Petition created on October 27, 2026