Surveillance camera manufacturer Flock Safety proposed expanding its automated license plate tracking network by incorporating roughly 350,000 Nexar dashcams installed in Uber, Lyft, and delivery vehicles, according to a company presentation obtained by investigative news outlet 404 Media through a public records request.
The presentation, prepared by Flock Safety for the Georgia Office of the Attorney General in August 2025, outlined a pitch that could have effectively transformed hundreds of thousands of rideshare and delivery vehicles into mobile surveillance units.
A spokesperson for Flock Safety told the Daily Mail that the company never executed the proposed partnership with Nexar. However, a screenshot from the presentation showed the dashcam integration presented as an extension of Georgia's existing license plate reader network.
The presentation stated: "Hundreds of Commercial Business and HOA in GA are part of the network." It added: "Plus Nexar partnership which includes 350k Uber/Lyft and other delivery service devices." Homeowners associations (HOAs) and commercial clients in Georgia were already using the stationary cameras to monitor property access.
At the time of the presentation, 404 Media described the proposal as "an integration in the early stages." Flock Safety told 404 Media then that it was exploring a relationship with Nexar, but did not have an active product offering.
Nexar manufactures dashcams costing several hundred dollars, designed for everyday motorists, commuters, frequent travelers, and rideshare drivers operating on commercial platforms like Uber and Lyft. Depending on the model, Nexar devices film the road, cabin interior, and rear of the vehicle in high-definition video while recording exact Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinate data and capturing license plates.
Flock Safety's existing surveillance network largely relies on fixed Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR) cameras purchased by police departments and local communities. Typically mounted on roadside poles, more than 120,000 Flock cameras currently monitor streets and neighborhoods across the United States. Integrating mobile dashcams would have transformed Flock's stationary network into a mobile venture.
Privacy Concerns Over Mobile Surveillance
The proposed expansion has intensified criticism from privacy advocates who warn that the system creates a searchable record of people's everyday movements. While police say the technology helps locate stolen vehicles, find missing people, and identify criminal suspects, civil liberties groups argue that innocent motorists can also be swept into the system and their movements searched without officers first obtaining a warrant.
Unlike traditional speed or red-light cameras that photograph vehicles only during suspected violations, ALPRs scan every vehicle passing through their field of view, regardless of whether the driver is suspected of committing a crime. Flock Safety's readers convert the images into searchable digital records that can include a vehicle's license plate, make, model, color, and distinguishing features, along with the time and location it was photographed.
While the technology is promoted as a tool for crime prevention and public safety, critics claim it can also be exploited for more intrusive and potentially abusive forms of surveillance.
Corporate Defense and Operating Policies
Garrett Langley, chief executive and co-founder of Flock Safety, defended the technology in a previous statement: "I take nothing more seriously than the values we built this company upon, to give cities tools to uphold public safety, while enabling accountability and transparency." Langley added: "Public safety does not need to come at the expense of community values."
Flock Safety has also noted in a blog post that its ALPRs "are not mass surveillance tools." The company shared that the devices "capture point-in-time images of license plates on public roadways and cannot track people or vehicles over time."
The company added: "Most data is never accessed and is deleted on a set retention schedule." Addressing public scrutiny, Flock Safety wrote that "reviews citing concerns (e.g., protest-related searches or inappropriate search terms) reflect isolated instances across thousands of agencies and millions of searches, not evidence of widespread, systemic monitoring or bias built into the technology."
Documented Misuse and Operational Audits
Concerns over the surveillance network have intensified following allegations of improper use by law enforcement personnel. In one instance, a Florida detective was fired for "using Flock license plate tracker 47 TIMES to snoop on her husband's ex-wife." Documented cases also show that incorrect automated alerts led to innocent motorists being detained by police, while audits revealed outside agencies searched locally collected records for immigration-related investigations.
Flock Safety says information is deleted after 30 days by default, although retention periods can vary under local contracts and state laws. The company maintains that its municipal customers control access to their information and that all searches are logged and can be audited.
Municipal Cancellations and Public Backlash
A growing number of American communities are imposing restrictions on the technology or abandoning the company altogether. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said in June that more than 55 communities had ended Flock contracts during the previous year, citing fears that the technology could enable warrantless surveillance, federal access to locally collected records, and searches without sufficient municipal oversight.
While those concerns do not mean misuse occurred in every community, investigations have documented cases in which outside agencies accessed locally collected information for purposes that local officials said violated their policies. In response to pushback and contract terminations, Langley has described criticisms as coordinated attacks from "activist groups" aiming to "defund the police" and "normalize lawlessness."
