Is Your Metropolis Utilizing Axon License Plate Cameras? We Want Your Assist

Cities across the nation are ditching Flock’s automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras, and replacing them with equivalent cameras from regulation enforcement contracting large Axon. That transfer largely is available in response to 404 Media’s protection of how native cops carried out lookups in Flock for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the way a cop in Texas searched Flock cameras nationwide to look for a woman who self-administered an abortion.

That brings up questions: what are cities and regulation enforcement businesses utilizing Axon ALPRs for? And who’re they in flip sharing that knowledge with? 404 Media has began to seek out out, however wants the assistance of native residents and neighborhood members to determine what is occurring throughout the nation.

Over the previous couple of weeks, 404 Media has filed requests with numerous cities and police departments for Axon “exercise stories” and “sharing stories.” These present in granular element when a police officer searched Axon’s ALPRs, the title of the officer, their badge quantity, the license plate they reached, and, most significantly, the acknowledged motive why. These exercise stories are primarily Axon’s model of Flock’s “community audits,” which has been the idea of a lot of 404 Media’s Flock reporting, and native and nationwide media retailers’ across the nation. You can see an instance of 1 right here:

So far, 404 Media has obtained exercise stories from the Benton County Sheriff’s Office, WA; Falmouth Police Department, ME; Johns Creek Police Department, GA; Ocean Shores Police Department, WA; Pleasanton Police Department, TX; and Red Wing Police Department, MN.

But we’d like your assist. Has your native police division or metropolis switched to Axon ALPR cameras? Were they already utilizing Axon? And do you wish to know what they’re utilizing these cameras for?

We’re asking readers to file the beneath public information request. You can merely copy this language, tweak it somewhat if essential to use to your state, then file the request with the related company. You can do that by discovering their related public information request e-mail deal with, or by filing it through Muckrock. This is the platform we use for sending and organizing our information requests.

The Internal ALPR Activity report is the one proven above. The Network ALPR Activity report exhibits what different businesses the police division or metropolis shares their knowledge with. The ALPR Data Sharing report supplies a historical past of when different businesses had been invited, or eliminated, to obtain the information. And the ALPR Hostlist Management Audit report particulars modifications made to alerts the company could obtain.

If you file a request and get knowledge again, please be happy to e-mail it to us at [email protected]. We’ve seen with the nationwide dialog about Flock that native residents can do quite a bit to disclose how surveillance know-how is being utilized in their very own communities. We hope we will discover out a bit extra about how businesses are utilizing Axon’s cameras too.

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the [YOUR STATE’S PUBLIC RECORDS LAW], I hereby request the next information:

1. Internal ALPR Activity report in Axon.

The report ought to embody knowledge logged from the interval of January 1, 2025, to the date this request is processed. Per Axon’s documentation, the Internal ALPR Activity report is accessible throughout the LPR > ALPR Search > LPR Audit menu. You can discover directions to find this right here: https://www.axon.com/help/fusus/software/fusus/alpr/alpr-audit.htm

2. Network ALPR Activity report in Axon.

The report ought to embody knowledge logged from the interval of January 1, 2025, to the date this request is processed. Per Axon’s documentation, the Network ALPR Activity report is accessible throughout the LPR > ALPR Search > LPR Audit menu. You can discover directions to find this right here: https://www.axon.com/help/fusus/software/fusus/alpr/alpr-audit.htm

3. ALPR Data Sharing report in Axon.

The report ought to embody knowledge logged from the interval of January 1, 2025, to the date this request is processed. Per Axon’s documentation, the ALPR Data Sharing report is accessible throughout the LPR > ALPR Search > LPR Audit menu. You can discover directions to find this right here: https://www.axon.com/help/fusus/software/fusus/alpr/alpr-audit.htm

4. ALPR Hotlist Management Audit report in Axon.

The report ought to embody knowledge logged from the interval of January 1, 2025, to the date this request is processed. Per Axon’s documentation, the ALPR Hotlist Management Audit report is accessible throughout the LPR > ALPR Search > LPR Audit menu. You can discover directions to find this right here: https://www.axon.com/help/fusus/software/fusus/alpr/alpr-audit.htm

The requested paperwork shall be made out there to most of the people, and this request is just not being made for industrial functions.

In the occasion that there are charges, I might be grateful in the event you would inform me of the full expenses upfront of fulfilling my request. I would favor the request crammed electronically, by e-mail attachment if out there or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you upfront on your anticipated cooperation on this matter. I look ahead to receiving your response throughout the time interval that the statute requires.

Sincerely,

[YOUR NAME]