It turns out Uncle Sam is part of the Flock family.
A Trump administration agency is paying Flock Group more than $200,000 a year to host license plate reader cameras on roadways around the Washington metropolitan area, according to government contracting data.
The U.S. Park Police, an agency within the Interior Department, just renewed its contract last week, even amid a growing national backlash against the cameras as a step toward a surveillance state.
The contracting documents are slim on details, saying only that the department “has a requirement to acquire and deploy a Flock safety automated license plate reader (ALPR) system in the greater Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.”
It doesn’t say where the cameras are located, and department officials, like most police agencies, declined to specify any locations to The Washington Times. Officials cited the need for secrecy of law enforcement operations and security.
But DeFlock.org, a website that maps cameras reported by the community, shows dozens of cameras on lands controlled by the National Park Service and patrolled by the Park Police. That includes at least 15 cameras on the George Washington Memorial Parkway, which runs along the Potomac River to the south and west of Washington, and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, which runs northeast from the city.
The DeFlock map also shows cameras on Rock Creek Parkway and on parkland near several of the bridges that link Virginia to Washington.
There’s also a camera just north of the Ellipse that’s pointed at the White House’s southern facade.
Park police, in a statement to The Washington Times, defended the contract.
“USPP uses the technology to capture criminals more efficiently and strengthen public safety. These systems have proven to deter criminal activity, support investigations, and improve response times,” the department said.
The department said the data is retained “for a certain number of days” and accessing it is limited to “trained personnel” engaged in “legitimate and documented law enforcement activity.”
The department said the use “is subject to audits,” and those audits themselves may eventually be automated.
“Keep in mind that the running of plates is done regularly without these cameras — the cameras just process more plates faster,” the department said.
Flock is the biggest player in the license plate reader industry.
The cameras are trained on roadways and use artificial intelligence to catalog plates’ numbers on vehicles as they drive by. The data gives an unprecedented look at Americans’ travel patterns — a fact which has spurred a massive popular resistance.
Arlington County, which includes some of the land that the GW Parkway traverses, voted last week to ditch its dozens of Flock cameras. Neighboring Fairfax County, meanwhile, will freeze its program and not add any more cameras.
The park police, though, told The Times they have no plans to give up its contract.
The contract is worth $433,600, and $231,600 was spent for the first year, according to the government database. The department exercised an option for a second year on Friday.
Federal taxpayer money going to Flock Group may not sit well with some members of Congress who are crafting legislation to restrict public spending for license plate readers.
They could have an opponent in the Trump White House.
In addition to the Flock cameras already posted, The Atlantic reported earlier this year that a list of must-have items the Trump administration wanted for any new spending bill for the Interior Department includes money for Flock license plate readers.
The Interior Department oversees the park police. The department didn’t respond to an inquiry for this story.
FBI Director Kash Patel told senators last week that the cameras keep kids safe.
He said agents will get a photo of a vehicle suspected in a child kidnapping and take it to license plate camera firms and ask them for information, which is then used to track down the cars.
“We have saved children over and over again from these child predators,” Mr. Patel said.
Other federal agencies have also explored use of license plate readers.
Customs and Border Protection has been using them for years, including at border crossings and along roadways near the border. The cameras help track suspicious behavior.
Contracting documents show some military bases also use the technology at their entrance gates.
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