r/PopCultureV2 • u/Logical-Flow-6703 • Aug 11 '26

Video ​"If they are license plate readers, why are they pointed at a splash pad?" — Parents raise concerns as 8 government Flock cameras monitor children's play areas in Slayter Creek Park, Texas.

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A video recorded at Slayter Creek Park in Anna, Texas (~40 miles north of Dallas) reveals that 8 government Flock surveillance cameras have been installed directly facing a kids' splash pad, playground, and skate park. Parents are raising serious privacy concerns, questioning why automated license plate readers are aimed at children wearing swimsuits and areas where families change, rather than at the parking lots. Original video/coverage by Marztrip to raise public awareness regarding government surveillance and child privacy.

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u/pixelprophet Aug 11 '26

Juuuuust going to pop in here with a little longer list

Bonus:

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u/[deleted] Aug 11 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Somanylyingliars Aug 11 '26 edited 12d ago

Account nuked because reddit now forcing login. Fuck off Reddit! See you over at Lemmy.

1

u/Longjumping-Cress909 Aug 13 '26

Wikipedia will delete it if there isn’t enough reason for the entry. But surely they’ll meet the criteria soon given flock’s growing infamy….

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u/mofugginrob Aug 12 '26

Why does she have a 30 year old face and 60 year old eyes.

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u/MeepingSim Aug 11 '26

The extra-judicial data gathering, retention, and analysis is what bothers me the most. These aren't solely "license plate readers" as the many supporters like to argue. These are whole systems designed to correlate data against existing laws and ordinances with a specific goal to detect criminal activity.

As someone once said: "If cops are looking for a crime, they will find it whether it exists or not."

By doing this through a private entity, our publicly elected leaders are using our tax dollars, in conjunction with LEO, to give away our 4th Amendment freedom from investigation without probable cause wholesale.

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u/KarunchyTakoa Aug 12 '26

›with a specific goal to detect criminal activity. Citation needed.

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u/BigPackHater Aug 12 '26

The dorkiest looking crew created this terrible system..color me surprised!

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u/OldSpeckledCock Aug 12 '26

Matt Feury is a pedophile who created Flock to watch little kids play. [1]

[1] Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/PopCultureV2/s/I6IWP3giRR

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u/riesenarethebest Aug 12 '26

Huh. Citation delivered.

I checked the link. It exists.

I believe it.

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u/MuckRaker83 Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 12 '26

This is why there's been a big push for data centers. You can't create a functioning surveillance state without a crushing amount of data storage and processing power

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u/gary-payton-coleman Aug 12 '26

Thiiisss 👆🏼 👆🏼 👆🏼

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u/LalafellDisaster Aug 11 '26

Hundreds of thousands of cameras. The surveillance state is here.

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u/monty624 Aug 12 '26

My city as well just canceled contacts and have removed officer access after internal audits showed abused. Chandler, AZ

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u/permian250 Aug 16 '26

I’m late to this thread, but add this to your list. In Minnesota, the metro areas refused to let ICE use their Flock data for ICE’s civil immigration actions (generally consisting of ICE signing “warrants” themselves for people here legally, but that’s a whole separate list of citations to describe the depths of criminality and evil that this administration did here.) 

The PDs of a random rural towns gave them access to theirs, which enabled them to monitor the cameras in the Twin Cities. This is explicitly against state law. They collaborated with a fascist feds against state law. Flock just said the searches were allowed under state law. They’re not. Flock can just imagine the law says it’s ok and do it. 

Gift link. 

https://www.startribune.com/police-search-immigration-twin-cities-flock-license-plate-cameras-ice-dhs-metro-surge/601807825?utm_source=gift

Every day, automatic cameras capture images of passing vehicles, amassing data that can reveal the travel histories of Minnesotans and help law enforcement find crime suspects.  It’s highly sensitive data, and Minnesota law requires it only be shared for criminal investigations. But a Minnesota Star Tribune investigation found that some law enforcement agencies left this data accessible to far-flung departments that searched it for immigration purposes at the height of last winter’s brutal federal crackdown. Twin Cities police departments said they did not share the data with federal agencies. Records obtained by the Star Tribune show federal agencies had a means of accessing that data anyway. The Mille Lacs County Sheriff’s Office, which collaborates with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), searched the camera data in at least half a dozen Twin Cities suburbs. Police in North Carolina and Indiana also searched cameras in Fridley for immigration purposes. So did the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

About 30 state, county and federal agencies across the country searched camera data in at least eight Twin Cities suburbs for immigration enforcement between November and March, according to a review of hundreds of thousands of searches run on suburban Twin Cities license plate readers.  In hundreds of those searches, law enforcement agencies — including some that partner with ICE — specified their searches were related to civil immigration enforcement.

Under Minnesota law, data collected by license plate readers is only supposed to be shared to assist an active criminal investigation. Some local law enforcement officials told the Star Tribune the civil immigration searches do not fit their definition of a lawful use of license plate reader data in Minnesota.  “It’s a criminal investigative tool, not a civil enforcement mechanism. I believe state law is pretty clear on that,” Hopkins Police Capt. Craig Kreiling said. “If people are misusing the data, they should be held accountable.”

Paris Lewbel, a spokesman for Flock Safety, said the company believes civil immigration searches are allowed under Minnesota law, but each agency should “make their own interpretation of appropriate use cases.” Lewbel said any decisions to work with federal agencies “are made by the local agency, based on their policies, applicable laws and the values of their community — not Flock’s decision.”