Due to an abnormal amount of rainfall, Halloween came and went with fewer than average number of trick-or-treaters. Those who decided to be out on the streets may have had different motives than collecting candy.
Automated license plate recognition cameras, the biggest maker of these being the company Flock Safety, have been popping up in all areas of the United States.
Flock Safety was founded in 2017 by Garrett Langley, Matt Feury and Paige Todd to help authorized users to find relevant vehicle evidence in crimes through ALPRs
The increasing number of misuses of their system, including cases of AI plate systems misidentifying cars and police officers using these readers for stalking, has raised serious privacy concerns among those who live by them.
A movement grew from that concern: De-Flocking America, also known as De-Flock Day, is a social media-based movement centered on making Flock Safety’s ALPR cameras non-operational on Halloween night. The plan was to use the holiday as a convenient excuse to dress up in face-obscuring costumes in the dark to make anonymity possible.
The earliest of these posts were in early August in a Facebook group called DeFlock America, sharing tips on needing masks and avoiding bringing technology like phones and smartwatches. This idea spread onto other platforms like X, Threads, TikTok, Instagram and Reddit.
Open source project DeFlock acted as a guide, mapping ALPRs all over America.
So what actually happened?
The morning after Halloween night, the Clarion surveyed Citrus College’s area to assess possible damage using the DeFlock app as a guide. After driving past around 40 ALPRs within Glendora and Azusa, only one was seen with any serious damage.
On the corner of East Alosta Avenue and North Citrus Avenue, closest to the Jack in the Box, the ALPR was originally facing west for cars passing on U.S. Route 66. The ALPR now faces toward the Jack in the Box parking lot. Its power supply, a solar panel, is smashed and hangs limp as it blocks off the main street.
Is this mistrust justified by those who are a part of this movement?
Is your city transparent?
The five cities in Citrus College’s District are Monrovia, Glendora, Azusa, Claremont and Duarte.
When looking for a transparency policy on Flock cameras and ALPRs, Claremont and Monrovia were the only two out of the five cities to provide them.
Comparatively, Duarte’s website clarifies what Flock cameras and ALPRs do. Glendora has a general policy for police officers and how they operate ALPRs. Azusa does not have any public clarification or transparency policy.
When looking at the directories of all of the surrounding districts, Claremont has the most transparent information available to the public.
What is Claremont doing?
Claremont’s city website immediately guides users to its ALPR Usage and Privacy Policy when searching for the keyword “Flock.” This policy has been on their website since Sept. 8.
During a call with Claremont’s Police Department’s public information officer, Bevin Handel referred the Clarion to Claremont’s website directly for information the public should know.
“They run thousands of license plates only, not the drivers, not any of that, just license plates,” Handel said. “They then will ping on or alert when there’s a stolen vehicle.”
She said only a warrant for a stolen vehicle will alert authorities.
All information for their department is retained for 30 days, and as of Oct. 28, 355,559 unique vehicles have been detected. The website also provides the searches made in the last 30 days, showing that from Sept. 29 to Oct. 27, there have been 67 user searches.
Of these searches, the offenses include motor vehicle theft/stolen, stolen property offenses, sex offenses, drugs/narcotics and more.
On a 2025 warrant register, Claremont listed an invoice to Flock Safety for $19,400.
According to its transparency site, since 2025, six Flock License Plate readers have been used by the Claremont Police Department. However, according to FindingFlock, there are 18 additional ALPRs made by Motorola Solutions and one by Genetec.
What is Monrovia doing?
The city of Monrovia’s website search bar directs users to its Police Department Policy Manual, where a subsection lists its Automated License Plate Reader Privacy and Usage Policy as well as its Metropolitan Police Department Flock Transparency Portal.
All information for their department is retained for 30 days, and as of Oct. 31, 421,407 unique vehicles have been detected. The website also provides the searches made in the last 30 days, showing that from Oct. 1 to Oct. 30, there have been 74 user searches.
Of these searches, the offenses include shoplifting, grand theft auto, suspicion of shoplifting and more.
The website does not show related budgets when searching Flock.
According to their transparency site, 24 license plate readers have been used by the Monrovia Police Department.
What is Duarte doing?
The city of Duarte’s website search bar brings users to three budgeting forms when keyword searching “ALPR.” But, when searching “Flock cameras,” a news article that was published in August under “Clarification on the City’s Utility Mounted Portable Camera Systems” is the first to show up.
The article says the use of these cameras is to combat crime and that the reviewing of footage is only when searching for crime, clarifying that the tool is not a live feed.
“The portable cameras do not use AI or facial recognition technology to track residents,” the article says. “Deployment of these cameras is solely to assist active investigations.”
Beyond that, the City of Duarte website has no transparency policy on Flock.
During a Budget Workshop in 2024 and 2025, the City of Duarte council chambers discussed a $45,000 expense for the ALPR Camera System, which was confirmed when moving into the final operating budget, covering the expenses for the installation and operating costs.
According to FindingFlock and corroborated by DeFlock’s map, Duarte has 10 Flock cameras and ALPRs. These statistics were last updated on Sept. 14 and used 2025 U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files to verify border lines. Duarte is the 341st largest out of 357 California cities filed.
What is Glendora doing?
The City of Glendora’s website requires users to dig a little deeper for information regarding Flock. Specific keyword searches for “ALPR” bring users to a general policy manual for the Glendora Police Department.
The first mention of an ALPR system is over 200 pages in, under their audit policy page where an ALPR coordinator will conduct a biannual audit. Detailed information on their use of ALPRs begins on pages 385 through 387, as well as mentions record maintenance on page 547.
The general policy manual outlines who is allowed to access the cameras and under what circumstances.
In the accountability section, it states that those with access to ALPR data can do so through a login/password-protected system. That data is permitted for law enforcement purposes only. For searches with serious crimes beyond Glendora’s jurisdiction, an incident number needs to be created in CAD for documentation purposes.
Beyond that, the City of Glendora website has no transparency policy on Flock.
After multiple calls with Glendora’s Police Department, none led to any direct comments made about ALPRs or their contract with Flock.
On two 2025 warrant registers, $8,475 was spent toward Hidden Springs Neighborhood in October, and $10,200 was spent toward Easley Canyon in November.
According to FindingFlock and corroborated by DeFlock’s map, Glendora has 57 Flock cameras and ALPRs. These statistics were last changed Oct. 9, 2026, using U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files to verify border lines. Glendora is the 99th largest out of 357 California cities filed.
What is Azusa doing?
The City of Azusa’s website has the most results, populating its search bar with 67 results under the search “ALPR” and 509 results under “Flock camera.”
Beyond that, the City of Azusa website has no transparency policy on Flock.
Outlined in the E-8 Staff report in March 2022, Azusa’s annual flat-rate lease per camera is $2,500, which includes wireless, is free of infrastructure setup and has an option for solar or direct power.
After many calls with the Azusa Police Department, none led to any direct comments made about ALPRs or their contract with Flock.
During an August city council meeting in 2020, the Azusa police department was awarded a $300,000 grant. Of that, $110,000 went toward a two-year lease granted for 21 ALPRs. During a mid-year budget report in March 2022, the Azusa police department requested a budget increase to Flock Safety for ALPRs of $142,500.
According to Finding Flock and corroborated by DeFlock’s map, Azusa has 27 Flock cameras and ALPRs. These statistics were last updated Aug. 21, using 2025 U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files to verify border lines. Azusa is the 198th largest of 357 California cities filed.
