There’s been a great deal of backlash against Flock cameras, with constant vandalism and numerous reports of crooked cops misusing them, leading to more and more communities to cancel their contracts. While Flock has received the most backlash, there are other ALPR companies out there. Rather than ending their use of technology that spies on you, and in a move that doesn’t really solve the problems associated with mass surveillance, some departments that have dropped Flock have simply switched to other companies that do the same thing, reports NPR.
One of those competitors is Axon. If that name sounds familiar, it’s probably because you’ve seen it displayed on body cam videos, since Axon is the leading supplier of body cams to law enforcement, according to The Intercept. After a bit of rebranding in 2017 (the same year Flock was founded), many people don’t know that Axon is the company formerly known as Taser, the electrical stun gun — another technology that police never, ever misuse.
While Flock had to develop not only its technology, but also its law enforcement contacts and clients, Axon already had the clients in its Rolodex thanks to its other products. Law enforcement agencies may be fleeing from Flock contracts like rats from a sinking ship, but they still want ALPR technology. In places like Denver, Colorado, for example, switching ALPR providers is easy when you’re getting your new camera tracking access through a supplier you likely already do business with.
Well for one there’s ideally no fire involved. But also we are talking about something that has limited manufacturing and hasn’t been used for anything large scale yet so yeah. Also would you really trust the current federal government to classify a sandwich? Let alone anything more complex.
Do you mean one of the many pneumatic airguns you can buy for hunting and the like? The ones that aren’t classified as firearms and thus aren’t nearly as legally restricted or regulated as firearms despite being able to deliver similar accuracy and kinetic force?
And yes, the fed hasn’t been super great at making logical distinctions between objects in general commerce. They’re silly.
I said limited manufacturing as in its probably still behind crossbows in production numbers, should’ve been more specific in that I didn’t mean limited production run. In my defense I have not slept well in like 4 days.