7-minute read
Since installing its first five red light cameras in 2009, the city of Lakeland has invested in surveillance technology to keep citizens safe and support the work of law enforcement.
While automatic license plate reader cameras (ALPRs) are not new technology, as AI advances, citizens and local governments have growing concerns about how the data can be used and Flock Safety’s cybersecurity.
ALPRs in Lakeland
In 2023, the Lakeland City Commission approved the installation of 19 Flock ALPR cameras. Then, in June 2025, the city commission voted to add eight more ALPR cameras.
LPD also gets data from:
- 19 red light cameras
- 165 Axon in-car video systems with license plate reader technology
- 265+ Axon officer-worn body cameras
- 14 speed-detection cameras
Assistant Police Chief Hans Lehman said video surveillance is a force multiplier that helps the Lakeland Police Department work more efficiently. “If we could solve stuff faster, then we could move on to other crimes,” Lehman said.
All of the city’s stationary cameras capture only public spaces and roadways. The department can request video from cameras operated by individuals and businesses on private property.
Mayor Bill Mutz said people should operate with the assumption that they are monitored in public spaces. However, he said Lakeland’s cameras are used solely as a safety and crime-solving tool. “The use of them is really predicated and solely for the purpose — which is the motivation, I can promise you here locally — for arresting criminals.”
What can Flock do?
Standard on Flock license plate reader cameras, Vehicle Fingerprint uses AI to analyze footage. It identifies vehicle details beyond those collected by traditional license plate readers, including:
- Make
- Body type (sedan, SUV, pickup truck, etc.)
- Color
- Plate state
- Type of plate (standard vs. temporary)
- Missing plate
- Damage or alterations (i.e. broken taillight, after-market wheels)
- Other identifiers (roof rack, window stickers, toolbox, and more)
Flock and Axon have announced partnerships with Amazon’s Ring. Community Requests allows law enforcement agencies to ask Ring camera owners to share their videos. Owners can refuse the request.
In addition, Flock offers paid subscriptions for features that can make the system more powerful. Lehman said that he and Chief Sam Taylor are in budget talks related to adding enhancements but could not be more specific.
“We have really good tools right now. We’re just trying to get to the next level,” Lehman said. “We owe it to the citizens … if there’s a better way to do something, we need to do it.”
Mayor Mutz said the City Commission will review any changes to the contract with Flock.
“We can’t shy away from technology,” said City Commissioner-elect Terry Coney. “You have to look at the latest, greatest technology, because that’s what’s going to help citizens.”
What might those enhancements be?
Introduced in February 2025, Flock Nova is a single platform that unifies information from multiple sources, streamlining the search process. Possible database sources include:
- ALPR cameras and other Flock devices
- Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD)
- Law enforcement Records Management Systems (RMS), which include incident reports, arrest records, and evidence logs
- Other open-source intelligence
“So if Walgreens up at Memorial and Florida gave us access to their security cameras, we would go in through FlockOS or Flock Nova or another vendor, and … we could watch those cameras,” said Lehman.
Law enforcement agencies using Flock Nova can opt-in to share CAD and RMS data across jurisdictions, improving coordination in multi-agency investigations.
This search tool allows officers to submit specific, plain-language inquiries, like “white sports car with a racing stripe.” Potentially decreasing the number of photos that must be reviewed in an investigation.
AI-powered investigative features
- Plate Swap Insights: identifies a license plate that has been captured on multiple cars within the same 30-day period
- Multi-State Insights: alerts law enforcement when a suspect’s car has been in multiple states within the past 30 days
- Hotlist Hotspot Insights: suggests locations where officers would have the greatest impact
Police point to positive outcomes
“This technology works 24/7. It doesn’t call in sick. It doesn’t need a patrol car,” Lehman said. In an email, he recounted cases when cameras cut back on the time and resources required:
- A missing and endangered person fled in a vehicle while threatening self-harm. According to Lehman, “approximately 30 minutes later, units were able to locate both the vehicle and the victim, who was found safely and received care.”
- A missing child was located traveling in a vehicle with a person who had a warrant for their arrest.
- Video identified a suspect vehicle following a “person shot” call. “From the time the call was dispatched to when the vehicle and shooting suspect was located in Altamonte Springs, less than two hours had passed,” wrote Lehman.
- An LPD officer was dragged by a vehicle during a suspicious vehicle investigation. A few hours later, the vehicle involved was located and the driver was arrested.
Mayor Mutz said “I think we have lost our way, to a large degree, institutionally, in the areas of trust, because of a canceling culture that picks up a bad report instead of the millions of great reports that are happening every day with so many people so conscientiously serving in a public service role.”
Privacy and accuracy concerns
Despite efforts made by police departments to ensure citizens’ privacy, several cities, including Cambridge, Mass., Austin, Texas and Redmond, Wash., have taken their Flock cameras offline amid concerns about privacy and who can access the data.
Denver has been a hotbed of controversy surrounding Flock cameras. In September, police cited Flock data as evidence and wrongly accused a citizen of theft. She ultimately proved her innocence with GPS data and video from her in-car system. In October, city council members and citizens expressed concerns about privacy related to the surveillance network. Despite these concerns, the Denver mayor extended the city’s contract with Flock and added drone surveillance. However, the city also banned the sharing of Flock data with the federal government in October.
Locally, Lehman said LPD is sensitive to privacy concerns. “There’s guardrails that we follow and there’s best practices and industry standards that we look at.”
According to Lehman, LPD’s data is stored in the Flock system for 30 days. If footage is required in an investigation, it is stored on Evidence.com by Axon. “That’s cloud storage and that’s the keeper of all of our evidence,” he said. “So whether it was a cell phone video that one of us took and sent in or it was an LPR hit or it was body cam it all goes to Evidence.com.”
He said the department has a couple of master administrators, but officers are limited in their access to Evidence.com based on assignments.
Flock on the national stage
According to Flock, their network comprises cameras in 5,000+ communities in 49 states and is utilized by 4,800+ law enforcement agencies.
On Monday, Nov. 3, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., called for a federal investigation into Flock, for perceived failure to implement cybersecurity best practices, including multi-factor authentication, potentially exposing Americans’ personal data to theft by hackers, foreign spies and criminals.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has reported that language found in Flock’s user agreements with cities and law enforcement agencies raises red flags. This language is found on page 10 of Lakeland’s contract.
In August, Flock announced that it paused pilot programs with federal agencies. In October, Flock added a federal organization designation, limitations on federal access and keyword filters to block searches related to civil immigration or reproductive healthcare from accessing cameras in jurisdictions where state law forbids it.
The federal government can request that individual law enforcement agencies execute searches on their behalf. These searches must be labeled as such in the system.
According to Flock’s Policy Pulse blog, “We provide the tools, but your city owns the data. Your city controls how it metes out justice.”
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Hey Big Brother – don’t let him get to you.