Get the Flock Off the Block: Flock Surveillance is Taking over Las Vegas

Smile, Las Vegas! You’re on Camera.

Imagine you’re driving to work and stop at a red light. Without your knowledge, a camera on the street pole has taken a picture of your license plate, your car’s color and make, your tire brand, any dents, and even your bumper stickers. This data uploads immediately to a searchable nationwide database. Officers in other states you have never visited can pull it up without a warrant, without suspecting you of anything. These assaults on our privacy are already happening, and they are victimizing our most vulnerable.

The Las Vegas Democratic Socialists of America (LVDSA) have a new target on our radar: Flock Safety. This private company has quietly built one of the largest mass surveillance tracking networks in American history. Controversial for racially profiling targets and making grave algorithmic errors, this company has recently become notorious for its integral collaboration with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In Las Vegas, a city built by immigrants, ICE actively and secretly scours Flock data to target and arrest them, destroying lives. While some states have taken measures to protect people from this abuse of power, Nevada has not. Flock has covered our city in cameras– a “gift” from elite powers who seek oppression and control. Whether used to track innocent people’s movements, instill fear in diverse urban areas, or hunt down our immigrant neighbors, Flock cameras have no place in Las Vegas. We, the LVDSA organizers, are sounding the alarm.

What is Flock?

Flock Safety is a private tech firm that sells AI-powered surveillance systems to police departments, homeowners’ associations, and private businesses. Their Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) is a camera mounted on poles at busy intersections and neighborhood streets that photographs every passing car, 24 hours a day, every day.

All of that data gets channeled to a central database that police across the country can search. With over 1 billion data points collected per month, 99.5% of the vehicles scanned belong to people who have done nothing wrong.

Why We Care, Even Though We Have Nothing to Hide.

Our daily movements tell an intimate story about who we are, and Flock captures it all. Here’s what their own contract states they can do with our data:

“For clarity, Flock may access, use, preserve, and/or disclose the Footage to law enforcement authorities, government officials, and/or third parties…”

Third parties–that means companies and advertisers.

More urgently, we care about our Black and brown neighbors disproportionately targeted by ALPRs. In Oak Park, Illinois, for example, 84% of people flagged and pulled over by Flock cameras were Black–despite Black people making up 19% of the population. Flock uses AI to bolster a system already corrupted by decades of racist police enforcement, and it’s not that intelligent.

Flock’s Many Mistakes Take a Devastating Human Toll.

The historic brutality of the police against people of color underscores Flock’s many disastrous errors. These ALPR glitches also create traumatic encounters for young people who are innocently going about their day. Here are just a few examples:

In Baltimore, 16-year-old Taki Allen was sitting outside his high school, waiting to be picked up after football practice, eating Doritos. An AI gun-detection system misidentified his bag of chips as a firearm. Eight police cars arrived. Officers with drawn guns approached him, forced him to the ground, and handcuffed him. Taki said the first thing he thought was, “Am I about to die?” When shown the image that triggered the alert, Allen explained: “I was just holding a Doritos bag – it was two hands and one finger out, and they said it looked like a gun.”

In Aurora, Colorado, a mother and her children were pulled over at gunpoint and forced to lie face down on the hot pavement. An ALPR system mistakenly matched their license plate to a stolen motorcycle in Montana. After a loud public outcry, the family was awarded a $1.9 million settlement from the city.

In Espanola, New Mexico, police officers held a 12-year-old girl at gunpoint because an ALPR camera misread a number on her sister’s license plate–a 2 that the system read as a 7. One month later, in the same region, a 17-year-old honors student was held at gunpoint on his way home from school after officers mistook his vehicle for one associated with an individual sought in connection with a string of armed robberies.

Cops are Using Flock to Stalk their Exes and Enemies.

Flock’s marketing materials don’t mention that the technology gives officers full rein to weaponize it against anyone they want. They have been brandishing this power against ex-romantic partners and personal rivals.

One Kansas police chief used Flock to track his ex-girlfriend and her new partner over 160 times.
A Wisconsin officer used Flock to run his ex-girlfriend’s plates five unauthorized times in a single month.
A Milwaukee officer ran a personal target’s plate 55 times and another’s 124 times over two months.

This is what happens when we allow unlimited, warrantless access to technology that can track anyone’s movements anywhere in the country, with no oversight. We cannot trust police officers to use it properly; what can we expect from ICE agents?

ICE is Already Exploiting Flock.

While Flock Safety does not have an official contract with ICE, federal immigration agencies have accessed Flock data through secretive backdoor deals with law enforcement agencies. This consolidation of power is another tool of terror wielded against immigrants.

In Washington state, researchers found that at least 10 police departments had Flock data accessed by the U.S. Border Patrol through backdoor access—meaning agencies that didn’t explicitly authorize federal immigration enforcement were still having their data searched. ICE has exploited Flock data in cooperating with local law enforcement agencies to locate and detain immigrants–often in cities with policies to protect them.

In Las Vegas, ICE is using Flock cameras right now, with the help of Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD). This is especially problematic, as ICE and LVMPD signed a 287(g) agreement in 2025, enabling Metro cops to execute immigration warrants on people held at the CCDC. The agreement also allows people to be held for an additional 48 hours after their release time, so that ICE may take them into custody. Therefore, Metro officers can use Flock data to track a brown-skinned person, pull them over for a trivial reason–like having a faulty brake light–and act as an ICE agent, detaining the driver in the name of immigration enforcement. Once detained, the victim has little recourse, thanks to the 287(g) agreement. (The ACLU of Nevada challenged the legality of the 287(g) agreement in court, but the case was dismissed on technical grounds. The ACLU of Nevada has vowed to continue the fight.)

While some Nevada leaders have expressed concern over the sinister and pervasive spread of Flock cameras and the vast surveillance machine they feed, none have introduced legislation that would protect our privacy from ICE. Governor Joe Lombardo has already granted ICE permission to enter our schools and churches without a warrant, and he caved to Donald Trump’s insistence that Nevada is a sanctuary state that requires the National Guard’s ICE enforcement support. Now it is more crucial than ever for everyday Las Vegans to protect the safety and dignity of our immigrant neighbors. Every Flock scan, every plate logged, is a potential family separated, a worker missing on the job, a life destroyed.

No Limits in Nevada.

Las Vegas residents are especially vulnerable. Clark County has at least 200 Flock cameras operating right now, and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) signed Flock’s contract without any public discussion–no city council vote, no press release. Venture capitalist Ben Horowitz side-stepped the necessity for public discussion by donating approximately $6.3 million to a private foundation, Friends of Metro, which then gifted the Flock contract to LVMPD. And so far, the reported lack of oversight for this powerful tool is incredible. Nevada is one of 34 states with zero legislation regulating ALPRS. While other states enacted legislation to curb Flock, no bill was introduced in Nevada in 2025. For us, Nevada residents, there are no restrictions on federal sharing and no prohibition on selling our data.

LVDSA organizers are calling on Clark County to immediately suspend the privately-funded LVMPD Flock contract, demand a full public accounting of every search conducted, and pass an ordinance requiring City Council approval before any further surveillance contracts are signed.

The Good News: We Can Get Flock Off the Block.

Solidarity is working. Cities where residents have organized and demanded regulation have won protections, such as mandatory written consent for data sharing, strict limits on which “hot lists” cameras can scan, requirements that data be deleted after 21 days, and absolute prohibitions on sharing data with entities not subject to US law. Two Virginia cities–Charlottesville and Staunton– banned Flock entirely. Las Vegas can follow suit.

Here’s What We Can Do Right Now.

Visit deflock.org– a map of known Flock cameras across the country.
Find out if your plate has been scanned – visit haveibeenflocked.com.
Sign this petition to demand action from our local officials. Make them answer on the record.
Attend our protest outside Mayor Shelly Berkley’s State of the City address on Wednesday, April 22nd, 5 pm at Reynolds Hall (361 Symphony Park Avenue, Las Vegas, NV 89106).
Spread the word. This technology is expanding because most people either don’t know it exists or don’t understand its reach. Tell your neighbors, post about it, bring it up at work, and at your HOA meeting–because your HOA might be feeding your data to the system right now.

Flock Off.

Flock Safety secretly built a nationwide surveillance system that tracks our every move without cause. It does not reduce crime, but it has repeatedly made dangerous errors that result in innocent people being held at gunpoint. It is being used excessively in Black and brown communities, and unstable police officers use it to stalk women. ICE agents use it to hunt and detain working immigrants. In Las Vegas, its reach will continue to expand until we do something to stop it.

We, the LVDSA organizers, proudly stand with all Nevada workers, regardless of their immigration status. We believe in the complete abolition of ICE and entities like Flock that empower them. We advocate for a city where our neighbors don’t fear the drive to work, the grocery store, or home from school. We demand our friends, neighbors, and coworkers not be targeted and silently tracked based on their status–they are our valued community members, not criminals. We deserve a city that safeguards everyone’s 4th Amendment right to privacy. We demand privacy, accountability, and a voice in what happens. For our neighbors, for ourselves, for our future, it’s time to get the Flock off the block.

By Jill G. & River T.F.

References:

Aldrete, I. (2025, Aug. 8). Lombardo to authorize the Nevada National Guard to support ICE operations. The Nevada Independent. https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/nevada-national-guard-authorized-to-support-feds-with-immigration-enforcement

American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada (2025, Oct. 23). LVMPD Ignores Underlying Nevada Court Order in ACLU of Nevada’s 287(g) Challenge and Transfers Detainee to ICE Custody
https://www.aclunv.org/press-releases/lvmpd-ignores-underlying-nevada-court-order-in-aclu-of-nevadas-287g-challenge-and-transfers-detainee-to-ice-custody/

American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma. (2023, Dec. 21). The threat to privacy and civil liberties from automatic license plate readers.
https://www.acluok.org/en/news/threat-privacy-and-civil-liberties-automatic-license-plate-readers

Aurora Police Department bodycam. (2020, Aug.). Officers force an Aurora, Colorado, family of Black girls to the ground at gunpoint after Flock misreads the license plate. The Associated Press.

Chronicle Media. (2023, Dec. 21). South Side.
https://chronicleillinois.com/tag/south-side/

DeFlock. (2026). DeFlock: Find nearby ALPRs. https://deflock.org

Denver7 News. (2020, Aug. 7). Prosecutors reviewing actions of Aurora officers during the mistaken traffic stop of Black family.
https://www.denver7.com/news/local-news/prosecutors-reviewing-actions-of-aurora-officers-during-mistaken-traffic-stop-of-black-family

Electronic Frontier Foundation. (2023, Oct. 1). Street-level surveillance and ALPR technology.
https://www.eff.org

Flock Safety. (2026). Technology and services overview.
https://www.flocksafety.com

FOX5 Vegas. (2025, June 9). Nevada governor vetoes bill aimed at protecting students from ICE [Video].
https://www.fox5vegas.com/video/2025/06/09/nevada-governor-vetoes-bill-aimed-protecting-students-ice/

Have I Been Flocked? (2026). Have I Been Flocked? https://haveibeenflocked.com

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). (2020). Predictive policing and racial bias.
https://naacp.org

The Nevada Independent. (2026, Feb. 22). Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department surveillance reporting.
https://thenevadaindependent.com

The Nevada Independent. (2026, Mar. 22). License plate reader cameras abound in Nevada. The state has no laws to regulate them. https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/license-plate-reader-cameras-abound-in-nevada-the-state-has-no-laws-to-regulate-them

U.S. Customs and Border Protection. (2026). Data access and surveillance practices.
https://www.cbp.gov