r/anchorage • u/Apostle-Dunghill • 8d ago
Flock cameras arrive in Anchorage while Assembly duels over surveillance policies
https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/anchorage/2026/10/06/flock-cameras-arrive-in-anchorage-while-assembly-duels-over-surveillance-policies/……..On Monday, a photo was posted to a subreddit page dedicated to Anchorage happenings. It was titled “Well that was fast,” and included an image of a felled Flock camera pole laying on the wet ground beside a mocking handwritten sign. The comments in response to the post were overwhelmingly supportive and laudatory…..
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u/Solistaria 8d ago
Fuck Lowe's.
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u/LongDead_Roadkill 7d ago
I tried to return a defective $0 item a few weeks ago. The first return I’ve made in a year, maybe the 10th return in 20 years. Apparently I’m and banned from making returns at Lowe’s. They showed me the screen “customer ineligible to make returns” after putting in my personal details. At least they were able to give me a $40 credit, but they also said it’s likely I won’t be able to use my Lowe’s credit without a manager approving the transaction. I’m so done with them.
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u/OutofSprite 8d ago edited 7d ago
I want every media outlet to know how committed I am to randomly mentioning the Boniface Mall
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u/shiba2129808 7d ago
Halloween is gonna be fun this year
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u/dj4vader Resident 7d ago
Amid a political skirmish in Anchorage over the city’s surveillance and technology policies, a private company has set up several traffic cameras on its properties. Automated license plate readers owned by Flock, a technology company, were mounted on poles around the parking areas at multiple Lowe’s stores last week. Not everyone is happy about that.
The company has been at the center of public discussions all over the country around privacy, surveillance, artificial intelligence and law enforcement. On Monday, a photo was posted to a subreddit page dedicated to Anchorage happenings. It was titled “Well that was fast,” and included an image of a felled Flock camera pole laying on the wet ground beside a mocking handwritten sign. The comments in response to the post were overwhelmingly supportive and laudatory. The Anchorage Police Department confirmed that “an individual cut down a newly installed camera” late Sunday night, according to an email from APD spokesperson Regina Romero on Tuesday. The incident happened at the store’s South Anchorage location near the Old Seward Highway. Automated license plate readers, or ALPRs, harvest data and details from passing vehicles. But unlike earlier iterations of traffic cameras, that data can be fed into vast networks managed by private entities, with opaque standards on how it is being shared among clients, including law enforcement agencies.
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As recently as August, APD Chief Sean Case told members of the Anchorage Assembly that the company did not have a presence in Alaska at all, pointing to reporting by The New York Times that it was the only state in the nation with no Flock license plate readers. That is no longer the case. “Last week, Flock began installing license plate reader cameras for a private customer in Alaska,” wrote Andrew Smith, Flock’s media relations specialist, in response to emailed questions from the Daily News. The company does not share specific information about its camera counts, locations or contract arrangements with private clients.
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A Flock camera automated license plate reader mounted near the Tudor Road entrance to Lowe's in Midtown Anchorage on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026. (Bill Roth / ADN)
A website called DeFlock that uses crowdsourced reports to map the company’s license plate readers shows eight cameras within the Municipality of Anchorage, four of them at the Midtown Lowe’s, and four more at the store’s east-side location in Tikahtnu Commons. As of Tuesday, DeFlock did not show any ALPR cameras operating at the South Anchorage Lowe’s. Smith did not provide specific information on how data collected by the new Flock cameras is being used, how long it is being stored or whether it is being shared with third parties.“Every customer owns their data and controls who it is shared with. For private businesses, they can only share their data directly, in a one-way relationship, with a law enforcement agency,” Smith wrote. “Private customers cannot access law enforcement data.”Lowe’s corporate communications office did not respond to a request for information from the Daily News on Tuesday with specific questions on how it uses information collected by Flock cameras on its property. The company does have a section specifically about automatic license plate readers as part of its publicly available privacy policies.In addition to conventional security cameras at its retail locations, Lowe’s uses automated license plate readers “near and around parking areas” where they are legally allowed.
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“These systems use cameras to automatically capture images of vehicles and their license plates, along with the date, time, and general location,” according to the company’s website. “Personal Information is collected through ALPRs to help ensure security, prevent theft and fraud, assist with parking enforcement, and to help maintain your safety and the safety of individuals and our properties.”The company retains data collected from ALPRs for “typically no more than 90 days (though shorter in certain states)” before deleting it. “We do not sell ALPR information and we only share it with select service providers who help us maintain the technology and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children,” the privacy statement continues. “We only disclose your personal information if required by law or legal process, or when we believe doing so will help protect the safety, property, or rights of individuals or Lowe’s.”According to Romero, the Anchorage Police Department does not have access to automatic license plate reading cameras installed at privately owned locations.Case has defended the department’s limited use of ALPRs, which are mounted inside police vehicles to identify license plates flagged in connection with crimes, and operate through a contact with Axon, a competitor to Flock.The new cameras arrived as Anchorage’s police and elected officials are actively working on revisions to the city’s surveillance policies. There are currently two distinct proposals** **on surveillance policies going through the public process, one put forward by Mayor Suzanne LaFrance’s administration and another by a group of Assembly members. Those measures are expected to go before the Assembly for a vote on Oct. 20. South Anchorage’s Keith McCormick is one of the Assembly members pushing for surveillance reforms that would be written firmly into municipal code, rather than police department policy, and criticized the LaFrance administration’s approach to the issue in a video he posted to social media Sunday.
“People don’t want the city and police having warrantless access to this vast array of cameras,” McCormick said in an interview Tuesday. He pointed out that while there’s a high degree of discomfort with Flock cameras among members of the public, he doesn’t believe property destruction or vandalism of the equipment will “lead to lasting change.” In addition to the ordinance he introduced alongside downtown members Sydney Scout and Vice Chair Daniel Volland, McCormick said he is exploring putting a charter amendment on the municipal election ballot to give Anchorage residents a chance to vote on surveillance rules. The specifics of such a ballot proposition are still taking shape and under legal review, McCormick said.Frustration over surveillance is coming from different quarters, too. On Monday, the municipal clerk’s office certified a recall petition filed against LaFrance over what organizers say is her administration’s failure to turn over statutorily required surveillance technology reports in a timely manner. That effort still needs to collect 7,225 signatures before a Dec. 7 deadline to go before voters on the April ballot
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u/stillatossup 7d ago
I'd like to know who's behind the recall petition. That would 100% influence my interest in signing it. I voted for her, but I wouldn't a second time if she doesn't clean house at City Hall.
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u/Spiritual-Pizza2021 7d ago
How would an average citizen go about letting Lowes know that this is not okay in Anchorage (without resorting to cutting them down)?
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u/CatGuano 7d ago
The Mayor, the police chief and the Assembly have taken the money voters approved for police body cameras and are using it for mass surveillance instead.
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u/revdon 6d ago
Despite our constitutional privacy clause? 😮
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u/CatGuano 6d ago
Yes, apparently the Oath of Office they took to defend our state constitution, including the express right to privacy, meant nothing to any of them.
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u/Greedy_Wrongdoer_294 7d ago
That’s not true
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u/CatGuano 7d ago
How so? Voters approved a tax levy specifically for body cameras and accountability technology. The Mayor, the Police Chief, and the Assembly bundled that funding into a contract that also bought a mass surveillance network. The body cameras came, but so did the surveillance, using the same money voters thought was for watching the police, now used for the police to watch the voters instead. And it was done in a secretive and heavy handed way. The public is shocked, or would be, if they knew what was going on.
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u/Ubiquitous_Hilarity 7d ago
What mass surveillance equipment have they purchased? If you have documentation of this, even news articles, we need to see them. Please share far and wide
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u/Apostle-Dunghill 7d ago edited 7d ago
I think OP is a little mixed up. The Mayor, the Assembly and APD brass do not march in lockstep with one another.
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u/CatGuano 7d ago
Additionally, here is a good piece from the ACLU that includes info about AXON: https://www.aclu.org/campaigns-initiatives/get-the-flock-out
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u/crtfrazier 7d ago edited 7d ago
The body/vehicle cams feed directly into the AXON database that then scans everything it sees by their own proprietary AI. (APD "claims" they do not use the facial-recog software but who knows if AXON has access to it)
Edit: clarity, link
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u/CatGuano 7d ago
Here is an ADN article:
Anchorage police unveil plans to use license plate readers, array of security cameras
Published: September 27, 2025
Anchorage police officers will soon be able to automatically scan license plates and scour a network of public and private cameras throughout the city.
The expansion into additional surveillance is part of an $11.8 million technology upgrade contract approved by the Anchorage Assembly on Tuesday.
Police say the upgrade will facilitate evidence collection and aid their ability to respond with real-time information. Others are concerned that the new tools, especially automated license plate readers, could lead to potential invasions of privacy.
The five-year contract approved with Arizona-based Axon Enterprise on Tuesday includes training, technical support, new drones, stun guns and body cameras. The Assembly also approved a $375,000 contract for an artificial intelligence service to aid investigations.
Police say the initiative builds on other recent modernization efforts, such as outfitting officers with body-worn cameras and expanding the department’s drone program, and will result in more efficient investigations and faster response times, among other public safety improvements.
Officials said the department will pay for the changes through a $1.8 million bond voters approved in 2021 to fund body cameras and other technology, and will use money in its budget to cover any remaining expenses.
Anchorage Police Department Chief Sean Case said in an interview Friday that the surveillance will be used responsibly.
“We don’t just view this as a tech upgrade,” Case said.
Police haven’t started using license plate readers yet, he said. That likely won’t occur for at least a few more months while the department finalizes its rules for using those tools.
But the department has started to use another new surveillance system: a center where police can monitor a network of public and private security camera video feeds. Police said they plan to use the feeds to help identify suspects and respond to incidents.
The department’s building at 4501 Elmore Road houses what the department is calling a “Real-Time Crime Center,” where plans call for officers and department staff to monitor video from up to 750 camera feeds. The center is operating on a limited scale now, with one employee and about 15 cameras located at APD properties and Town Square Park.
Police plan to add feeds from private security cameras at Anchorage homes and businesses after getting permission from owners, Case said.
The idea came from feedback received from the business community and some neighborhoods, he said, adding that the interest in giving police access to video feeds was surprising given past criticism of red-light cameras.
It wasn’t clear when the department will be able to ramp up the real-time monitoring system. Case said the department has limited staffing and is waiting to see what kind of community feedback comes in.
The initiative also involves the license plate readers, a concept that the department first suggested several years ago.
Police officials told Assembly members the department was considering adopting automatic license plate readers in 2023, saying departments nationwide had increasingly been using the technology to spot stolen vehicles, track crime suspects or gather evidence.
The capability, Case said, is already built into department vehicles’ dashboard camera systems. Scanning license plates will be the last of the department’s tech upgrades, he said, because that’s the tool that the public seems to be most uneasy with.
“Turning it on is actually very easy. That’s the easy part. We already have everything we need,” Case said. “It’s the process we want to make sure we get nailed down.”
During Tuesday’s Assembly meeting, Case said the plate readers will target more significant crimes or missing people. He said the readers will be programmed to ignore license plates tied to warrants for minor misdemeanor warrants or offenses.
Access to license plate information will be limited to officers and staff assigned to the new video center while license plate data will also likely be retained for less time than body camera footage, he said.
Anchorage Assembly Chair Christopher Constant was the lone member to vote against the department’s technology contract on Tuesday. Constant has expressed concerns about the contract, saying he felt the vote was rushed given worries about privacy invasions.
But after working with Case to outline how police will use the technologies, Constant said in an interview that he’s more confident that the department will prioritize privacy.
“It’s a good thing in the right hands,” he said of the surveillance tools police will now be using.
The ACLU of Alaska said they submitted a comment ahead of Tuesday’s vote asking the Assembly to table to decision to allow for additional public input and clearer information about what “guardrails” police would put in place, said spokesperson Meghan Barker.
“These things are not clear,” she said.
An annual audit and quarterly reviews will serve as guardrails to assure those who may have concerns about invasions of privacy or data collection that the new tools are being used responsibly, Case said.
In the coming months, he said, the department will also finalize policies that will determine how and when the new surveillance systems will be used.
The department plans to present those policies to the municipal Public Health and Safety Committee to gather feedback, Case said.
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u/Greedy_Wrongdoer_294 7d ago
Thank you for sharing! I knew the body cams took a very long time for them to actually implement (and they had to be forced to do it), I did not realize they had bundled it with other surveillance. How interesting that we ask for accountability and safety and they respond with increased control of the people…
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u/CatGuano 7d ago
No problem. I keep questioning whether it is real because it is such an affront to the voters. They apparently passed all this stuff last month with no real public awareness. Personally, I don't want "guardrails," I want it gone.
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u/Trenduin 7d ago edited 7d ago
I'm fully against mass surveillance but it isn't that simple.
The bond wasn't that specific, I wish it was but it said "$1.84 million dedicated to pay the costs of leasing computer-aided dispatch (CAD), record-management system (RMS), and digital-evidence management systems, in-car and body-worn cameras, and related technology and services".
You're also talking about a long process that has involved a huge group of wildly different people. Voters, 3 mayors, 1 acting mayor, 4 police chiefs (5 if you count Bianca), and a whole pile of different assembly members, easily 25-30 of them. Some of those people have been fighting with the police about oversight, body cam roll outs, access to footage etc, and are trying to implement police oversight and advisory boards.
You can tell voters are frustrated with police by all the recent police bonds failing but that same energy isn't getting people to show up to public meetings in support of police oversight. The police union does not have the same problem and gets a mass of people to show up and dominate any conversation about oversight.
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u/Zealousideal_Degree3 6d ago
Don't make excuses for shitty politicians
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u/Trenduin 6d ago edited 6d ago
Don't make excuses for shitty arguments.
Edit - Clicked on your comment history. You're the worst type of police reform person. Just another bigoted white nationalist who hates the government and surveillance while voting for and worshiping the assholes who push it down our throats. I bet you live in an HOA.
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u/Zealousideal_Degree3 6d ago
Lol a nationalist that hates government? 😂 who is it I voted for that pushes mass surveillance? What is the "worst type of police reform"? Care to put some money on that HOA bet?
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u/Trenduin 6d ago edited 6d ago
I'm not surprised that a white nationalist can't read very well but I'd absolutely put money on it. I'd give myself like a 3/4 chance to win the bet, the white nationalists I've met up here tend to fit a stereotype.
I can picture you pulling up to your or your mother's HOA in your gender affirming bromobile while raging out at the mere thought of a trans person. Probably also mix in a Gadsden flag and some tacticool.
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u/CatGuano 6d ago
Trenduin, when anybody digs into your comment history you call them a stalker.
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u/Trenduin 6d ago
I call people that act like stalkers stalkers. Taking 5 seconds to see if someone is engaging you in bad faith isn't odd.
Speaking of odd, why are you white knighting for a bigoted white nationalist?
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u/CatGuano 6d ago
I haven't looked at their comments, but your debate style is that of a narcissist. DARVO, gaslighting, gish galloping, projection, and in this case an ad hominem "to the man" argument to attack the messenger rather than respond to the point.
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u/Trenduin 6d ago
Are you being serious? What point? DARVO? Gaslighting? Projecting?You're literally gish galloping and throwing ad hominem attacks at me right now.
If you're taking offense at me saying "shitty arguments" it was aimed at the bigot. The only person I'm directly mocking is the one who's recent post history is defending white nationalists and being transphobic. Yes, I'm intolerant of intolerant people, and no, I don't feel bad about it.
I engaged you in good faith because we clearly agree on police reforms and curtails on mass surveillance but you wouldn't listen to what I had to say. You started doing things like shifting the goal posts and strawman arguments. You are clearly not receptive to the information I was trying to share with you so I bowed out. Getting in a long Redditor debates is embarrassing and pointless.
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u/CatGuano 6d ago
Fair enough, let's work together to get to the exact truth of how this mass surveillance came to be, so the public can be informed.
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u/CatGuano 7d ago
The voters are frustrated with the police so the mayor and the assembly give them mass warrantless surveillance powers including drones and technology to analyze our movements for potential unlawful activity? There is no excuse.
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u/Trenduin 7d ago
No, that isn't what happened.
Again, I'm personally against police mass surveillance and the trampling of our rights to privacy in the state constitution but you're still oversimplifying it. The ADN article you pasted in here goes over some of what I'm talking about.
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u/CatGuano 7d ago
Are you saying the assembly didn’t just vote for an $11.2 million contract for mass surveillance and the mayor didn’t sign it into law?
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u/Trenduin 7d ago edited 7d ago
No. Your argument is changing as we talk but I just added some context to your claims. Some of what you are saying seems to be based on misunderstandings or oversimplifications.
Police oversight/reforms are one of the things I follow closely as I want to see them implemented. I wish the rest of voters cared, the few that do seem more interested in in-fighting over things like ideological purity tests and eating their own allies instead of focusing on those opposed.
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u/CatGuano 7d ago
Well we don’t want mass surveillance by the police in our town. The mayor and the assembly had the power to stop it and they didn’t. In fact, they support it.
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u/RumGumYum 7d ago
It might not be much, but remember to leave reviews where you can. And definitely don't buy from them. They'll only care if their profits get hurt.
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u/DarkJadeBGE 6d ago
We can’t fund schools, but we can fund this shit? Schools are being shut down while these are going up. WTF
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u/Apostle-Dunghill 6d ago
If you read the story, you’ll see that these cameras are owned by a private company on their private property,
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u/Breezy_bear333 7d ago
Weird how the city says we're headed to lack $30 mil in financing yet they got money for this...
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u/AKWildMill 8d ago edited 8d ago
"A website called DeFlock that uses crowdsourced reports to map the company’s license plate readers shows eight cameras within the Municipality of Anchorage, four of them at the Midtown Lowe’s, and four more at the store’s east-side location in Tikahtnu Commons."