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

South Windsor ends Flock reader contract

Wednesday, October 7, 2026 · 18 stories · view as email

Top

South Windsor Town Council votes 6-3 to terminate its Flock contract.(CT Insider)

CT Insider reported the South Windsor Town Council voted 6-3 to end its contract with Flock and remove local automated license plate readers, following a public hearing where no residents spoke in favor of the surveillance technology.

ANALYSISSouth Windsor is getting rid of its Flock cameras. Here's why. (CT Insider)

Fayetteville City Council voted 7-0 to ban automatic license plate readers.(Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

Judge Jeffrey El-Hajj dismisses a lawsuit against San Jose's 500 plate cameras.(sanjosespotlight.com)

FinCEN withdrew two proposed rules targeting crypto mixers and unhosted wallets.(Cryip)

Salt Lake City police deployed seven first-responder drones across the city.(kjzz.com)

Lakeland City Commission approves a $21.9 million contract expansion with Axon.(Lakeland Gazette)

Flock watch

Henrico County is dropping its Flock Safety contract after database misuse charges.(WTVR.com)

California dismisses challenge to San Jose's 500-camera network(The Mercury News)

Troy, N.Y. passes law restricting license plate readers(Democrat and Chronicle)

Volusia County, Fla. votes for moratorium on plate reader cameras(WKMG)

Michigan reportedly used Flock readers for immigration enforcement(eu.detroitnews.com)

Surveillance & Privacy

A DHS agent logged six Maine immigration observers into an ICE database.(Latin Times)

Delaware enacted HB 381 to mandate health care data breach reporting.(JD Supra)

Raleigh Police reviewed driverless patrol cars equipped with surveillance cameras.(WRAL)

Los Angeles City Council considers asserting jurisdiction over LAPD's Axon contract.(MyNewsLA.com)

Coming Up

Wed Oct 7

DeadlineKnox County, TN — Flock Safety license plate reader cameras scheduled for countywide removal (WATE 6 On Your Side)

Wed Oct 7

HearingU.S. Supreme Court — U.S. Supreme Court hears oral argument in Department of the Air Force v. Prutehi Guahan (JD Supra)

Wed Oct 7

MeetingAlexandria, VA — Alexandria Police Department holds a community listening session on police surveillance technology and its Flock Safety contract (The Alexandria Brief)

Wed Oct 7

MeetingSun Prairie, WI — Public Safety Committee holds a meeting for public input on a proposed Axon license plate reader contract (WMTV 15 NEWS)

Thu Oct 8

ExpiresWashington, DC — Temporary restraining order blocking White House ban on CNN, MS NOW, and Politico is set to expire (USA TODAY)

Thu Oct 8

MeetingBenton, Arkansas — Benton Police Department hosts a public demonstration and Q&A on its Drone as First Responder trial program (Arkansas Radio)

Full calendar and .ics feed →

Speech & Press

ABC News asks a federal judge to block an FCC broadcast review.(courthousenews.com)

A federal judge dismissed Sean Moorman's retaliation suit against seven ICE agents.(Dayton Daily News)

Two Texas churches challenge the Johnson Amendment in the Fifth Circuit.(CBN.com - The Christian Broadcasting Network)

Useful

Regulations.gov(regulations.gov)

Federal rules take public comments, and agencies have to answer them. This is how to find an open docket and file one that counts.

All the tools and guides →

Past issues

Tue, Oct 6

FinCEN withdrew two rules on Oct. 5…

Mon, Oct 5

Hawaii plans to deploy 400 plate readers

Fri, Oct 2

West Yorkshire Police deployed live facial…

Thu, Oct 1

Cambridgeshire Police will deploy live…

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

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