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158 documents

Why the immigration numbers carry a political stake

Smart Cities & Surveillance — WEF, Contracts, FOIA · Alpr Flock / Alpr Debate

Non-citizens — including illegal immigrants — count in the decennial Census, which determines congressional apportionment (House seats), Electoral College shares, and the distribution of more than $2.8 trillion/yr in federal funding. Because that population concentrates in certain jurisdictions, there is a real, documented representation-and-funding stake tied to it — which is why some Republicans (the Hagerty/Cassidy bills) have moved to exclude illegal immigrants from the apportionment count. Source: U.S. Census Bureau / Urban Institute / Sen. Hagerty.

…but the partisan size of that effect is contested

Smart Cities & Surveillance — WEF, Contracts, FOIA · Alpr Flock / Alpr Debate

How much this actually shifts power is disputed — and generally found small. PolitiFact rated FALSE the claim that counting non-citizens gave Democrats '24 more seats,' estimating real shifts of ~2–3 seats. Pew found that excluding unauthorized immigrants would cost California, Florida and Texas a seat each — and Florida and Texas are Republican-leaning. From 2019–2023, far more non-citizens moved to red states (~1.2 million) than blue states (~72,000). So the incentive is real, but the measured partisan effect is modest and not cleanly one-sided. Source: PolitiFact / Pew Research / Third Way.

Is the opposition politically motivated? (an argument that is made)

Smart Cities & Surveillance — WEF, Contracts, FOIA · Alpr Flock / Alpr Debate

Some argue the privacy objection is selectively invoked and really tracks immigration enforcement. Pierce County (WA) Sheriff Keith Swank put it bluntly: 'Outrage over privacy and surveillance spikes the moment the tools start identifying illegal aliens who commit crimes… activists who stayed silent about other monitoring suddenly discover deep concerns for civil liberties when the targets are people in the country illegally.' The broader version ties opposition to the census/representation stake above. This is presented as an argument that is made — not as an established fact. Source: Seattle Red (Sheriff Keith Swank, Jul 2026).

What the opponents say their motive is

Smart Cities & Surveillance — WEF, Contracts, FOIA · Alpr Flock / Alpr Debate

Opponents frame it as a universal, cross-partisan objection to warrantless mass tracking of everyone. The ACLU's Jay Stanley calls Flock 'a giant nationwide warrantless surveillance infrastructure' and stresses the data 'can be abused not just by ICE, and not just for immigration purposes' — pointing to the Texas officer who searched nationwide for a woman who'd had an abortion and to police running searches around protests. Some opponents do openly name protecting immigrants as one aim — but that is a declared policy position, which is different from a hidden partisan motive. Source: ACLU (Jay Stanley) / EFF.

The opposition is not only left-wing

Smart Cities & Surveillance — WEF, Contracts, FOIA · Alpr Flock / Alpr Debate

A purely partisan read of the opposition is incomplete. The same Norfolk lawsuit is backed from both ends of the spectrum: the libertarian Institute for Justice brings it, and the libertarian Cato Institute AND the progressive ACLU/EFF each filed for the plaintiffs. Cato frames ALPRs as 'suspicionless searches that the Framers sought to prohibit,' tracing them to the 1761 writs-of-assistance fight. Red jurisdictions have dropped Flock — Sedona AZ, and the Texas towns of Bandera ('Self-governance starts at home. It's your duty to defend our constitutional rights') and Lockhart — and Republican legislators (Rep. Keith Self, R-TX) plus GOP-led Arkansas, Idaho and Montana have restricted ALPRs on Fourth-Amendment grounds. Source: Reason / Cato / Bandera Bulletin.

Does Flock's own camera capture your phone's MAC address?

Smart Cities & Surveillance — WEF, Contracts, FOIA · Alpr Flock / Alpr Debate

Short answer from the record: not that anyone has documented. The confusion is understandable — anti-surveillance detectors ('Flock You' / DeFlock) locate Flock cameras by picking up the cameras' OWN emissions: Flock units broadcast a Wi-Fi SSID of the form 'Flock-[partial MAC]' plus Bluetooth beacons, which the detectors read to find them. That is people detecting the camera, not the camera capturing your device. The vendor with documented device-identifier capture is Leonardo/ELSAG's SignalTrace, which runs on ELSAG's own readers and does not integrate with Flock. So: device-MAC capture is a real, documented ALPR-industry capability — but it is not established for Flock's own cameras. 'Not documented' is not the same as 'impossible'; it is simply where the public record stands today. Source: Flock You detector docs (VirtuallyScott) / Leonardo.

Total US ALPR cameras mapped

Smart Cities & Surveillance — WEF, Contracts, FOIA · Alpr Flock / Alpr Data

There are 122,445 automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras mapped across the United States in the crowdsourced OpenStreetMap/DeFlock dataset. This is a sample, NOT a complete registry — real deployments are higher.

ALPR cameras by manufacturer

Smart Cities & Surveillance — WEF, Contracts, FOIA · Alpr Flock / Alpr Data

Mapped ALPR cameras by manufacturer/brand: Flock Safety 99,329, Motorola Solutions 6,296, Other 3,812, Genetec 3,236, Axis Communications 1,555, Leonardo/ELSAG 1,013, Rekor 657, Neology 476 (of 122,445 total). Flock Safety is by far the largest operator.

States with the most ALPR cameras

Smart Cities & Surveillance — WEF, Contracts, FOIA · Alpr Flock / Alpr Data

The US states with the MOST mapped ALPR cameras, ranked highest to lowest (crowdsourced OpenStreetMap/DeFlock): California 19,447, Texas 12,338, Illinois 9,756, Florida 7,273, North Carolina 7,000, Georgia 6,519, Michigan 5,359, Ohio 4,524, Indiana 4,408, Alabama 3,950, New York 3,758, Pennsylvania 2,980, Kansas 2,827, Arizona 2,699, New Jersey 2,698. Flock Safety is the dominant brand in nearly every state.

California ALPR cameras

Smart Cities & Surveillance — WEF, Contracts, FOIA · Alpr Flock / Alpr Data

California (CA) has 19,447 mapped ALPR cameras — 15,419 of them Flock Safety in the crowdsourced OpenStreetMap/DeFlock dataset (a sample, not a complete count).

Texas ALPR cameras

Smart Cities & Surveillance — WEF, Contracts, FOIA · Alpr Flock / Alpr Data

Texas (TX) has 12,338 mapped ALPR cameras — 11,290 of them Flock Safety in the crowdsourced OpenStreetMap/DeFlock dataset (a sample, not a complete count).

Illinois ALPR cameras

Smart Cities & Surveillance — WEF, Contracts, FOIA · Alpr Flock / Alpr Data

Illinois (IL) has 9,756 mapped ALPR cameras — 7,554 of them Flock Safety in the crowdsourced OpenStreetMap/DeFlock dataset (a sample, not a complete count).

Florida ALPR cameras

Smart Cities & Surveillance — WEF, Contracts, FOIA · Alpr Flock / Alpr Data

Florida (FL) has 7,273 mapped ALPR cameras — 5,742 of them Flock Safety in the crowdsourced OpenStreetMap/DeFlock dataset (a sample, not a complete count).

North Carolina ALPR cameras

Smart Cities & Surveillance — WEF, Contracts, FOIA · Alpr Flock / Alpr Data

North Carolina (NC) has 7,000 mapped ALPR cameras — 6,194 of them Flock Safety in the crowdsourced OpenStreetMap/DeFlock dataset (a sample, not a complete count).

Georgia ALPR cameras

Smart Cities & Surveillance — WEF, Contracts, FOIA · Alpr Flock / Alpr Data

Georgia (GA) has 6,519 mapped ALPR cameras — 6,111 of them Flock Safety in the crowdsourced OpenStreetMap/DeFlock dataset (a sample, not a complete count).

Michigan ALPR cameras

Smart Cities & Surveillance — WEF, Contracts, FOIA · Alpr Flock / Alpr Data

Michigan (MI) has 5,359 mapped ALPR cameras — 4,620 of them Flock Safety in the crowdsourced OpenStreetMap/DeFlock dataset (a sample, not a complete count).

Ohio ALPR cameras

Smart Cities & Surveillance — WEF, Contracts, FOIA · Alpr Flock / Alpr Data

Ohio (OH) has 4,524 mapped ALPR cameras — 4,052 of them Flock Safety in the crowdsourced OpenStreetMap/DeFlock dataset (a sample, not a complete count).

Indiana ALPR cameras

Smart Cities & Surveillance — WEF, Contracts, FOIA · Alpr Flock / Alpr Data

Indiana (IN) has 4,408 mapped ALPR cameras — 4,157 of them Flock Safety in the crowdsourced OpenStreetMap/DeFlock dataset (a sample, not a complete count).

Alabama ALPR cameras

Smart Cities & Surveillance — WEF, Contracts, FOIA · Alpr Flock / Alpr Data

Alabama (AL) has 3,950 mapped ALPR cameras — 3,330 of them Flock Safety in the crowdsourced OpenStreetMap/DeFlock dataset (a sample, not a complete count).

New York ALPR cameras

Smart Cities & Surveillance — WEF, Contracts, FOIA · Alpr Flock / Alpr Data

New York (NY) has 3,758 mapped ALPR cameras — 2,230 of them Flock Safety in the crowdsourced OpenStreetMap/DeFlock dataset (a sample, not a complete count).