Letter to the Editor
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Dear Editor –
I am constantly in a state of concern for my country.
It seems like every day, we are presented with more laws, more policies, more encroachments on our freedom and way of life. This translates plainly into continual erosion of our freedom and quality of life.
And, like boiling a frog in a pot, it is done ever so gradually, so we don’t perceive the increase of heat which will eventually fry and kill our freedoms.
No threat so far has posed such an immediate and severe threat to our liberties as that posed by Flock Cameras and other similar technologies.
Law Enforcement advocates will praise these systems as ways to find stolen vehicles, kidnapped children, and missing elderly parents. And while these examples certainly tug at our heart strings, the amount of freedom we sacrifice for marginal gains is not in line with our nation’s heritage.
These are also not just “LPRs,” (License Plate Readers). They capture live data on your vehicle make/model, identifying decals or marks, photos of occupants, and recently, even the identifying data off your cell phone and other technology in your vehicle. Your license plate and all this information is location, date, and time stamped and saved for however long the holder wishes to keep it. Essentially, your every move is constantly tracked and stored by private companies and provided to the government without a warrant.
Just this past week, a City Councilmember in Cape Coral, Florida has recommended mounting AI-powered Flock cameras on trash trucks. This tech would be used to identify the types of garbage outside homes to identify if building permits have been secured by the homeowner. So, if they see some sheetrock and a bathroom sink being set by the curb, you will be flagged for inspection by code enforcement and most likely penalized financially. It will also look at your yard and the state of your roof to send you code violation citations.
Other municipalities voted to install cameras on School Buses, with the goal to photograph drivers that pass buses illegally – again, a cause we can most likely support. However, they are now expanding the use of the technology to capture ALL license plate and vehicle data and add that information to the databases. To track you.
Lastly, there is growing evidence of misuse of this data, even by members of law enforcement. The data has been used by police officers to track spouses, and even to stalk exes.
This is also not an issue that is far off in some blue-state city. I have personally seen these cameras in Oliver Springs and outside Wartburg. I have advised the Oneida City Council to implement a resolution preserving our liberty and freedoms. I would like to see Scott County, as a whole, become a “Surveillance Sanctuary City,” where all AI-powered and digital surveillance is illegal.
The benefits of these systems in no way offset the costs of liberty and freedom. It is imperative that Scott County pass legislation that protects the freedoms in our county, and establish a sanctuary county against this harmful and Orwellian technology.
Scott McNamara
Sources:
Cape Coral: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1343443963922198
School Bus expansion: https://reason.com/2026/05/28/leaked-plans-show-school-buses-could-become-roaming-surveillance-vehicles/
Police misuse:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/crime/2026/07/08/flock-cameras-used-for-personal-reasons-by-five-albany-cops-gbi-says/90844996007/
https://ij.org/police-have-reportedly-used-license-plate-readers-to-stalk-romantic-interests-at-least-14-times-in-recent-years/
https://www.walb.com/2026/07/08/chief-says-flock-audit-system-exposed-5-apd-officers-who-allegedly-misused-license-plate-cameras/