The surveillance & liberty brief

Crow's Nest tracks license-plate readers, facial recognition, police surveillance and the wider civil-liberties beat, town by town. One free email each weekday morning, every line linked to the reporting it came from.

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Today's issue

Cambridgeshire Police will deploy live…

Thursday, October 1, 2026 · 25 stories · view as email

Top

Cambridgeshire Police will deploy live facial recognition cameras to scan crowds.(Cambridge News)

Cambridgeshire Police announced they are expanding live facial recognition to Cambridge to scan crowds for wanted suspects, following an initial deployment in Peterborough.

ANALYSISPolice Deploy Live Facial Recognition in Cambridge Following Massive Peterborough Scans (cambsnews.co.uk)

PRIMARY SOURCELive Facial Recognition Surveillance Coming to Cambridge City Centre (Cambridgeshire Constabulary)

USPS partnered with Next Base to put dashcams on 100 delivery trucks.(404media.co)

El Paso County Sheriff Joseph Roybal discontinued Flock Safety cameras immediately.(FOX21 News Colorado)

Cle Elum City Council voted not to renew its Flock Safety contract.(Nonstop Local News)

DHS admitted 185 Nevada voters it flagged were all U.S. citizens.(Reason)

Ahmedabad City Police will deploy AI cameras and facial recognition at festival venues.(GujaratSamachar English)

The pattern

Six law enforcement agencies saw staff disciplined, arrested, or convicted for misusing automated license plate readers.

Cheektowaga police suspended three employees for allegedly using Flock cameras to track a coworker.(wbuf.com)

A former Lufkin officer was sentenced to five years for misusing Flock cameras.(KTRE)

GBI arrested a former Hall County investigator for allegedly misusing Flock cameras.(cbsnews.com)

A former Virginia police officer faces charges for allegedly tracking coworkers with Flock cameras.(WTKR)

Two Florida deputies were arrested for alleged misuse of Flock license plate readers.(Creative Loafing: Tampa Bay)

Athens-Clarke police fired an employee for allegedly tracking his ex-wife with Flock cameras.(Georgia Today (GPB))

Under the radar

Seattle Police Department taps internal transportation camera feeds without a written agreement.(komonews.com)

Flock watch

White House funnels local license plate data into federal servers(404media.co)

Florida agencies face a 30-day deadline to remove license plate readers from state rights-of-way.(Florida Phoenix)

Akron details permitted uses of Flock surveillance cameras(Akron Beacon Journal)

Flock Safety plans to expand into camera-equipped aerial surveillance drones.(101.5 KNUE)

Missouri advises police to delete license plate data(KCTV)

Surveillance & Privacy

TikTok will pay Alabama at least $100 million and verify users' ages.(reclaimthenet.org)

Connecticut laws take effect restricting business use of facial recognition and geolocation tracking.(ctmirror.org)

Sen. Marsha Blackburn sued Jack Smith in federal court over seized phone records.(Fox News)

IDScan.net disclosed a database breach that allegedly exposed 153 million IDs.(PC Magazine)

Coming Up

Thu Oct 1

DeadlineAlexandria, VA — Alexandria Police Department faces deadline to release map of automated license plate reader camera locations (FOX 5 DC)

Thu Oct 1

DeadlineStoughton, Massachusetts — Flock Safety must remove surveillance equipment installed under its canceled contract with Stoughton (Shrewsbury Post)

Thu Oct 1

Takes effectConnecticut — A Connecticut state law regarding police surveillance technologies takes effect (WFSB)

Thu Oct 1

Takes effectConnecticut — A state law takes effect prohibiting Connecticut police departments from accessing the national Flock license plate reader network (wiltonbulletin.com)

Thu Oct 1

Takes effectIndia — Biometric Aadhaar Authentication becomes mandatory for previously-registered beneficiaries to receive subsidized LPG (biometricupdate.com)

Thu Oct 1

Takes effectCalifornia — California law restricting publication of immigration support provider images takes effect (breitbart.com)

Full calendar and .ics feed →

Speech & Press

The Ninth Circuit upholds Arizona's law mandating disclosure of major political donors.(courtlistener.com)

Judge allows Raquel Pacheco's suit against Miami Beach to proceed.(reason.com)

A federal bill would allow attorney fee recovery after preliminary injunctions.(JonathanTurley.org)

Useful

LittleSis(littlesis.org)

Who sits on whose board, who lobbies whom, who donated. The map behind the vendor that just won a contract.

All the tools and guides →

Past issues

Wed, Sep 30

Flock Safety plans surveillance drones

Tue, Sep 29

Germany's parliament passed a Federal…

Mon, Sep 28

Texas cities deactivate 900 Flock cameras

Fri, Sep 25

India's Ministry of Home Affairs directed…

Thu, Sep 24

Massachusetts and Wisconsin fusion centers…

Wed, Sep 23

Carey bans ALPRs and facial recognition

Tue, Sep 22

Western Australia Police Force scanned…

Mon, Sep 21

Las Cruces adds Flock camera privacy rules

Fri, Sep 18

LiveView and Axon let police stream cameras

Thu, Sep 17

El Paso votes to remove Flock cameras

Each issue is the day's brief as it went to subscribers. The feed has everything we tracked that did not make the email.