An open-source project designed to highlight license plate readers across the country shows six locations within Yosemite National Park where Flock cameras have been installed.
The cameras were revealed by online map DeFlock.org, which tracks automated license plate readers nationwide. Pushback against Flock cameras stems from unease about increased surveillance. The Los Angeles Police Department announced on July 11 that it was suspending its contract with Flock Safety, citing concerns over privacy and data usage.
Yosemite National Park officials say the cameras are placed in those locations as part of a wider system to help control traffic and monitor capacity in parking lots – and are not designed to capture license plate information. The National Park Service says the cameras’ purpose is to help solve something that has plagued the park for years.
Yosemite National Park will use part of a federal grant to design a unified, park-wide system that integrates real-time data on traffic, parking, and road conditions into automated, multichannel visitor information. The sophisticated high-tech system is expected to have smart cameras and sensors along the roads and parking lots that would count cars and track traffic as it happens.
Traffic gridlock has been a longtime problem.
Yosemite National Park once saw more than 120 days of traffic gridlock a year. Saturday waits at the gate, which once stretched to 3 hours, are now typically under 30 minutes, even as visitation is UP 12%.
The broader controversy surrounds Flock Safety’s technology.
Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) are AI-powered cameras that capture and analyze images of all passing vehicles, storing details like your car’s location, date, and time, and also capture your car’s make, model, color, and identifying features such as dents, roof racks, and bumper stickers, often turning these into searchable data points, and they collect data on millions of vehicles regardless of whether the driver is suspected of a crime.
DeFlock, founded by privacy advocate and software engineer Will Freeman in 2024, has a crowdsourced map showing where all recorded ALPR cameras are located across the country, not just Flock. DeFlock’s mission is to shine a light on the widespread use of ALPR technology, raise awareness about the threats it poses to personal privacy and civil liberties, and empower the public to take action.
Over the last few months, people have cut down surveillance cameras owned by the company Flock Safety with an electric saw in upstate New York, thrown paint on them in Oakland, California, and rammed a truck into them in Idaho. The objectors range from public officials to individual vigilantes, spanning metropolitan and rural America alike, and in a politically divided country, opposition to Flock cameras is the rare issue that binds people across the ideological spectrum.
The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office arrested 40-year-old Marcus Bee of Pismo Beach in connection with the intentional vandalism of at least three Flock Safety Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) cameras. Marcus Bee, 40, of Pismo Beach, traveled about 150 miles to Monterey County, where investigators said he vandalized at least three Flock Safety automated license plate readers.
Marcus Bee was arrested and booked into the Monterey County Jail on a charge of felony vandalism after detectives linked him to the destruction of at least 3 Flock Safety Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) cameras in the communities of Lockwood and Bradley. The damage totaled thousands of dollars to public safety infrastructure.
“This arrest sends a clear message that anyone who intentionally damages public safety equipment will be identified, arrested, and held accountable,” Monterey County Sheriff Tina Nieto said.
“These cameras have become an invaluable investigative resource that helps us solve crimes, recover stolen vehicles and ag equipment, locate missing persons, and protect our communities.”
Flock Safety, which has cameras across the Los Angeles area, condemned the tearing down of their cameras, saying “These are tools agencies rely on to respond quickly and help keep people safe. People have every right to make their voices heard, but criminal acts should never be part of that process.”
LAPD’s chief information officer Dean Gialamas said “This contract is not being renewed because of serious concerns around civil liberties and civil rights issues, particularly around privacy and the data that is being collected from these cameras.”
Opposition to Flock Safety spans the political spectrum, with critics saying “It’s a violation of people’s privacy,” and “Rational people know it comes down to violating personal liberties.”
In the viral moment behind this surveillance controversy, DeFlock’s online map exposed the presence of six Flock cameras in Yosemite. Yosemite officials responded by clarifying that the cameras are designed to read vehicles and track traffic patterns for wait-time management—not to feed data to law enforcement databases. The cameras capture vehicle make, model, color, and license plates to help the park monitor entrances and congestion. Park rangers plan to integrate AI to give visitors advance information before they arrive. According to Yosemite officials, the system is currently being built out with no estimated time for completion.
City governments have joined in by deactivating the cameras or cancelling contracts with Flock in Fort Collins, Colorado; Eugene, Oregon; Madison, Wisconsin; Knoxville, Tennessee; Syracuse, New York; and Walla Walla, Washington.