No Creepy Cameras in Nebraska

ALPR companies like Flock Safety are quietly creating a nationwide mass surveillance system. These cameras are in Nebraska, tracking, logging, and sharing our movements without a warrant.

But Nebraskans are increasingly speaking up against these creepy cameras — and your community could be the next to choose privacy over mass surveillance.

It’s not clear exactly how many ALPRs are up in Nebraska. The DeFlock crowdsourcing project estimates more than 500 cameras. Thanks to a state law that requires basic transparency around this technology – which we supported as a bill – our law enforcement agencies must report on their use, including how often officers manually entered plate numbers to search the system.

The Nebraska Crime Commission currently has reports from these law enforcement agencies, reflected in the above map: Nebraska State Patrol, Buffalo County Sheriff’s Office, Dakota County Sheriff’s Office, Dawson County Sheriff’s Office, Hall County Sheriff’s Office, Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office, Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office, Seward County Sheriff’s Office, York County Sheriff’s Office, Bellevue Police Department, Beatrice Police Department, Chadron Police Department, Fremont Police Department, Gering Police Department, Grand Island Police Department, Kearney Police Department, Lexington Police Department, Lincoln Police Department, Morrill Police Department, North Platte Police Department, Omaha Police Department, Omaha Airport Authority, Papillion Police Department, Scottsbluff Police Department, South Sioux City Police Department, UNO Public Safety, and York Police Department.

Flock provides one of the most widely used ALPR systems, but it’s not the only company profiting off spying on Nebraskans. You will find Axon cameras mounted on police cruisers in Lincoln and Vigilant Mobile cameras in Buffalo County. Genetec, PlateSmart, Innova Systems, Rekor, ELSAG, Perceptics, and Jenoptik are a few of the other leading companies selling ALPRs to police, private companies, and others.

It doesn't matter which company has its cameras in your neighborhood; they all have the same problems. Any surveillance technology involves fundamental privacy concerns and introduces the possibility of misuse and abuse. Just think about how much someone could learn about your life if cameras constantly tracked where you drove. They could find out which doctors you visit, what house of faith you worship at, who you visit or drive around with — even which political meetings and protests you attend.

In Nebraska, police have used social media to surveil totally lawful activities of activists, including a private birthday party and know your rights clinic. Even with safeguards, a mass surveillance network only invites abuse.

And we've already seen how this mass surveillance tool is being leveraged to support the current administration’s mass deportation machine.

ICE and the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office refused to answer reporter questions about these searches. Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Hanson said ICE and HSI had told him the searches “weren’t purely for civil immigration violations” — but keep in mind that ICE categorizes immigrants as ‘criminal’ for violations as minor as a traffic ticket.

We can see cautionary stories in our sister states. Kansas police used Flock cameras to pursue a man who wrote a critical op-ed about the department, while a Colorado police officer wrongfully accused a woman of theft based on a Flock hit and then refused to look at evidence proving her innocence. A mother and her children were held at gunpoint because ALPR cameras wrongly flagged their car as stolen.

This surveillance state has been growing at a rapid pace, but there's good news, too. Communities across the country are speaking up for their basic privacy and peace of mind. In August, the small town of Ord became the first community in Nebraska to vote for removal of its Flock cameras.

Your community could be next. We have been working for years to oppose the growing reach of these cameras, and we need your help.

Read our local advocacy toolkit and join the movement to tell Flock and other ALPR companies: "Get The Flock Out!"

The ACLU has been working for over a decade to increase transparency and accountability for how ALPR cameras are being used. In 2013, ACLU National released You Are Being Tracked, a report detailing how ALPR cameras were becoming a tool for mass routine location tracking and surveillance. In 2018, Nebraska passed the Automatic License Plate Reader Privacy Act, putting safeguards on the use of ALPRs by law enforcement agencies and local governments. Our affiliate helped advocate for passage of that bill and has consistently opposed the growing presence of ALPR cameras in our communities since.