The Flock camera high on the lamppost at left keeps track of vehicles coming off the Ellsworth Street Bridge. (Photo taken Nov. 26, 2025)
So far the Albany police have only one automated license plate reader made by the Flock company, but it has come up with at least one interesting statistic about traffic on the Ellsworth Street Bridge.
Flock Safety, the Atlanta-based company that owns the camera system, posts a “transparency portal” for each of its customers, including Albany.
On Monday the portal said that the Albany camera, watching traffic on Ellsworth Street as it comes off the bridge into downtown, counted 64,700 “unique vehicles” during the last 30 days.
This seems to be fairly consistent. Last Friday, for example, the count of unique vehicles over the preceding 30 days was 63,566. So that’s roughly the number of drivers that depend on the bridge during any month.
That number may not be anything special, but it’s good to know how important that bridge it to how many of us.
(State highway traffic counts show an average of about 11,600 vehicles a day on Ellsworth Street just south of the bridge, which would yield 348,000 vehicles a month. That’s almost 4.2 million vehicles hammering that bridge per year. It’s amazing that the bridge has lasted as long as it has, which is a full century this year. But I digress.)
Last week, the city council heard Police Chief Marcia Harnden talk about the Flock system as a valuable tool in fighting crime. It allows participating police departments to search for vehicles in which they have an interest.
The chief told of one case in which the suspect in an Albany crime was arrested in Medford after his vehicle showed up on a Flock camera there.
From the Flock transparency portal, we learn that Medford is one of the departments that Albany has given access to its system. There are 20 others, all local Oregon police or sheriff’s departments.
Those departments searched the Albany camera’s data 26 times. The reasons listed for those searches are mostly “police investigation” or “narcotics investigation,” with a couple of hit-and-runs and one theft.
For some reason, Corvallis is not among the police departments granted access to the Albany Flock system. That needs an explanation, considering from where at least some of the Ellsworth traffic comes.
Albany’s Flock contract is for four cameras, at $14,000 a year, but the chief says three are not yet deployed.
Compared to other places, one or even four cameras sounds pretty thin in terms of crime-fighting surveillance technology. For instance, the number of Flock cameras operating in Norfolk, Va., was more than 170, and in October, an appeals court upheld their use. (hh)
This is an edited version of an earlier story, in which I think I misunderstood what Flock means by “unique vehicles.”
“The chief told of one case in which the suspect in an Albany crime was arrested in Medford after his vehicle showed up on a Flock camera there.”
And how many “suspects” would be arrested if the police were actually patrolling traffic the old fashioned way?
Would that entail putting one cop at the bridge to monitor 64,700 license plates, “patrolling” for the suspect rolling into our town?
Why would you presume that? Read what I said, not what you want to believe I said.
OK Bill-
How many officers would you use and where would you place them – knowing you would be taking them away from existing duties they already have/do?
What duties do they have? I thought it was POLICING?
Just running traffic patrols like they used to would produce far more perps than ONE!!!!! . Just watch Westbound traffic on Pacific Blvd. from Columbus to Geary. It takes about 2 minutes to see a semi driving very close to or IN the Bike Lane. Very unskilled truck drivers. You wonder where they came from or what training they actually have.
So true Shaun, just imagine trying to stay alert and focused for hours and hours, watching for one plate number.
I’m all for the flock cameras. Bring it. It literally helps fighting crime. Yeah it may not bring in revenue like a speed trap camera does which is probably why there’s only one being used out of the four and they’re not trying to get more.
You’ve got it. A government’s main function is literally the safety and security of its citizens. That is all. It should not be doing much more than that whether city, state or federal. Whatever it takes to provide a high level of safety is appropriate, so long as it does not infringe on Constitutional freedoms. Taking pictures of license plates comes no where near to a Constitutional 1st Amendment issue
You are right on the money Brian!
If the Chief of Police believes that a system monitoring all of us 24-7-365 is justified by the capture of one suspect in Medford, then the Chief needs to reconsider her position. The Flock cameras purport to solve/prevent crime, but at what cost? I suggest that the price we pay for 24-hour surveillance is, in the long run, deleterious to social order. Just the knowledge that an inanimate camera system linked to computer databases being scoured by AI Bots, to catch a single “criminal” occasionally is overkill and will slowly lead to a society where suspicion trumps everything and faith is destroyed.
Thank you for saying this. Sometimes it feels like we as a society are all too eager to give up any right to privacy that we’ve previously enjoyed. Ben Franklin famously said “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety”.
If this system were always used exactly as intended, there would be no problem. I’ve read more than a few stories about officers in other jurisdictions using flock cameras to stalk their exes or track the whereabouts of private citizens for personal reasons. I like to think that our police would hold themselves to a higher standard, but the fact remains that in my opinion this type of system should not exist.
That’s not to mention the possibility of a hacker or other bad actor getting their hands on the collected information.
I do not see a risk to privacy in my rear license plate being photographed on a busy public thoroughfare, what is the big fear?
The way I read it, the police chief was sharing one example, not saying that it was the ONLY case.
So the post today in the D-H is incorrect, the Flock data IS shared with Federal law enforcement. They can also access this public file. That said, why is Albany a “sanctuary” city? Why is in city a sanctuary from its own Federal government? Are we a United states (and cities) or not? This seems like a reversion to the medieval city-state mentality where every city had a wall and its own defenses and could not rely on each other. Serious reversion which will bring with it consequences. Imagine Milwaukee declaring it was a “sanctuary” for the Chicago Mafia in the 1930s and not allowing Feds in to go after the criminals like Al Capone. That is EXACTLY what Albany and the state of Oregon are doing today
Guess I missed the explanation of “unique vehicle”. Would you elaborate? Thanks.
The old-fashioned way would be far, far, far more inefficient. We live in 2025 after all.
Interesting several agencies have recently suspended such services. No real idea why, but my guess political at best. I was also told they were easy to hack into. Eugene police gave no exact reason.
You can stalk people.
It’s already been in the news of officers stalking exes etc.
Municipalities that engages with video surveillance have carefully considered the value proposition of this technology and have chosen it so resources can be deployed to manage what constituents demand: policing of minor crimes involving homelessness, mental health and major crimes against people or property. From an economic and fiscal stewardship perspective this make total sense. Unhappy? Perhaps change your perspectives or your votes. Or be like N Albany Road complainers and criticize the method of enforcement instead of the violation.
It’s interesting that APD has given access to so many departments. I wonder how Chief Harnden can be so sure that federal agencies cannot access the data, since one officer in any of those departments could share access with ICE, for instance, as have some in other parts of the country.
While that may not concern some, the same goes for any other federal agency that might choose to violate the privacy of any citizen it chooses to by monitoring their patterns of travel.
Let’s follow Eugene in getting rid of them. Eugene’s police departments reason for no longer using flock cameras was concerns of data handling done by the third party company.
So I’m reading more surveillance of the citizenry, right?
ORANGE MAN IS WATCHING YOUR EVERY MOVE…..OH MY..
This technology easily surpasses Amber alerts on highway signs.
Flock has been covered in articles about Eugene, Springfield, Veneta, and Junction City.
https://www.registerguard.com/story/news/local/2025/12/10/eugene-springfield-flock-camera-controversy/87560980007/
https://lookouteugene-springfield.com/story/justice/2025/12/16/timeline-the-brief-troubled-history-of-flock-cameras-in-eugene-springfield/
Eugene Weekly has some articles and letters about their Flock experience
https://eugeneweekly.com/2025/11/20/from-flock-to-that-behemoth/
https://eugeneweekly.com/2025/12/11/slant-cease-and-desist/
https://eugeneweekly.com/2025/06/10/de-flocking-the-cameras/
Springfield’s experience
https://kval.com/news/local/springfield-police-to-cover-remove-flock-license-plate-cameras-after-security-concerns
https://kval.com/news/local/chief-skinner-end-of-flock-cameras-in-eugene-not-the-end-for-alpr-technology
It’s just cop-speak and governmental speak to say “unique” vehicles. It is supposed to impress the individual asking the question and make them go away satisfied with the non-answer they have received. All unique means, in this case, is thousands of vehicles….that is, each vehicle is its own entity. It is not a vehicle hooked to another vehicle by a trailer hitch or what-have-you. You were given officious B.S. by a government employee, Hasso, and you fell for it. My dad taught me about government-speak when I was knee-high-to-a-grasshopper, as they used to say.
Im pretty sure it means that the camera recorded so many different vehicles. Most vehicles using the bridge cross it maybe 6 or 7 times a week. The bridge carries more than 300,000 vehicles a month. So 64000 unique vehicles in 30 days has to mean that each vehicle recorded is counted only once in the 30-day count.
I see absolutely no downside to these. If I drive over the bridge to the store and it happens to get my plate I could care less. My car is out in public every day and everybody can see it. Why would anyone give a damn unless your driving a stolen car. Then your a thug and should be locked up.
The problem is the slow CREEP. More and more cameras. Placed in Albany. Recording our every move. Where does it end? ….or does it?
Flock cameras are a bad idea. Eugene turned theirs off (a “pause” while they decided what to do), but Flock turned them back on without informing anyone and continued collecting data. When caught, they said it was unintentional. Sure it was. Even if they’re telling the truth, it looks like they are incompetent. Has anyone questioned why these cameras are basically provided for free (via grants)? Looks fishy to me.
If the government keeps their word about not not using them for mass surveillance (fat chance), they are easy to hack and easily abused. Serious criminals and gangs are immune to them because they will splash mud on their license plates or switch plates. Switching plates will be particularly disruptive because they could frame other people (who checks that the right plates on their car before driving off?). That would waste a lot of police resources and time. On top of all that, the cameras are easy to spot and easy to avoid.
I also fear that the police will become reliant on these kinds of technologies and basically just sit around and wait for notifications rather than actively police the city. I hope the city will show us that they respect our natural right to privacy and the presumption of innocence. Plus, I’m allergic to mass surveillance, police states, A.I., and the fallacious notion: “If you haven’t done anything wrong, you have nothing to fear from the government watching your every move.”
Yessss! I completely agree. No mass surveillance!
Same thing happened in Springfield, I believe one of them was claimed by flock to be a technical error, and the other one was because the camera had self-reported an issue that required a technician, and the technician came out, fixed the issue, and re-enabled the camera. These violations of contract were part of their decision when they did, just recently, officially canceled their contracts. Both of those cities. Plus OCCU.
Just heard that many Flock cameras were used to track the type of rented Nissan vehicle driven by the Brown University killer and killer of MIT professor (killer now dead himself). So, kudos for Flock cameras. They had to track all Nissans of that model in the area because the killer changed the license plate more than once.
I have yet to read about that, but are you saying those FLOCK camera were them tracking the vehicle make, model, and color, instead of just the plates on the vehicle? Oh, no no no. I don’t like that.
https://youtube.com/shorts/vthgT1DFARk?si=6F78ZEgtnJgZ_Pu1
This is absolutely something important to be aware of because of the case law precedent that it sets, especially for other states, but in Oregon, it is already been ruled that ALPR data is not public information, and should be treated as confidential. I am not totally sure how this applies to people like public figures, whose license plates and addresses are public information, but it is unlikely that Oregon would make the same ruling as Washington State.
Corvallis PD doesn’t have access to it because Corvallis PD doesn’t have their own flock system. They can only share it to other agencies that have their own flock dashboard. I also found this article because I’m trying to figure out whether it is actually common practice to announce the total number of CONTRACTED cameras, rather than just the number of INSTALLED cameras, on the OPTIONAL transparency portal. As far as I know, none of flock’s private customers (like Lowe’s, Home Depot, or Walmart, not all of which have installations in Albany yet) opt into sharing the transparency, data, and even police departments, district attorney’s offices, and sheriff’s departments are allowed to exclude as much data as they please, or not post a transparency portal at all. Apart from the fact that these are $800 boxes with $300 solar panels on $500 DOT approved poles, which are effectively an Android phone running on Android 8.1 (the flock image capture is run on an app), that flock violated the contract with literally every agency they work with by outsourcing “AI training” to sweatshops in the Philippines, or how trivial it is to vandalize or hack these systems, it shocks me that more people aren’t keeping a closer eye on this. I agree that the traffic data stats are interesting, however, every single vehicle being logged in a system that has been used in the past for immigration purposes (another breach of contract), arresting those who leave their home state for reproductive care, misreading plates, and marking innocent vehicles as “suspicious” based on their travel patterns or number of occurrences in the system, is highly highly concerning. Especially because Albany PD, among others who are part of the national sharing Network, are able to search over 100,000 cameras all over the country for a particular plate or vehicle description with little to no reason. They’re technically required to input a reason for the search, but entries like “sus,” “suspicious,” “inv,” and “investigation” are common and, in my opinion, which I would hope is a reasonable stance, just simply not good enough. I would encourage the author, other commenters, and anybody else who happens to be reading this to look into resources like DeFlock and HaveIBeenFlocked to get a little bit better of an idea of just how dystopic this technology is THAT OUR TAXES ARE PAYING FOR!!!!!
I made two comments in December about cameras in Eugene and Springfield and what they were doing about it.. They were turning them off. Now my comments are deleted.
No idea what if anything happened. I didn’t delete anything.