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

Davidson County votes to bag Flock cameras

Tuesday, October 13, 2026 · 22 stories · view as email

Top

Davidson County commissioners vote to bag 25 Flock surveillance cameras.(Lexington Dispatch)

Davidson County officials learned that 25 Flock license plate readers stayed active weeks after an August vote to end the contract, prompting commissioners to order the cameras bagged until removal, local outlets reported.

Davidson County Orders Inactive Flock Surveillance Cameras Covered with Bags (Davidson Local)

Bexar County deputies used placeholder numbers in Flock license plate searches.(KABB)

Lakeland commissioners approved a $21.9 million Axon contract adding drones and AI.(WFLA)

A Department of Homeland Security agent infiltrated anti-ICE Signal chats.(minnesotareformer.com)

Judges authorized cell-site simulators to track a student who helped Don Lemon.(Wired)

Solvang will review its AI camera policy following resident objections.(New York Post)

The pattern

Police departments in three reports deployed Flock cameras without authorization or votes from local councils.

Police nationwide installed Flock cameras without council votes.(The Institute for Justice)

Columbia County Sheriff's Office installed 10 Flock Safety cameras without board approval.(The Daily Gazette)

Maryville police deployed 16 Flock license plate readers without city council authorization.(WLBT)

Under the radar

Hoover City Council will weigh an Axon deal adding four police drones.(hooversun.com)

Flock watch

Steven Greer sued Port St. Lucie over warrantless license plate tracking.(WPEC)

Dutchess County proposes covering disused Flock cameras(CNY News)

Flock camera false alarms led police to detain drivers at gunpoint.(NBC News)

South Windsor orders police to halt Flock camera use(Hartford Courant)

Plano City Council is set to vote on ending its Flock contract.(WCSJ News)

Surveillance & Privacy

Cheshire Police processed over 4,750 faces with live facial recognition vans.(Warrington Guardian)

Eight U.S. airports are previewing TSA PreCheck biometric e-gates and AI screening.(TheTravel)

Pasco Police Department launched a program offering live feeds to private cameras.(Tri-City Herald)

Police use Graylark's Raven AI to identify homes from interior photos.(TechSpot)

Coming Up

Tue Oct 13

DeadlineU.S. District Court — Judge Timothy Kelly intends to rule on request to block White House ban on reporters from CNN, MS NOW, and Politico (AP)

Tue Oct 13

DeadlineIndonesia — Technology providers must register and express interest in Dukcapil's biometric digital ID remote enrollment EME (biometricupdate.com)

Tue Oct 13

DeadlineU.S. District Court for the District of Columbia — U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly issues decision on preliminary injunction regarding White House press pass revocations (Tennessee Lookout)

Tue Oct 13

ExpiresWashington, DC — Temporary restraining order forcing the Trump administration to restore press passes to CNN, MS Now, and Politico expires (Idaho Capital Sun)

Tue Oct 13

ExpiresWashington, DC — Temporary restraining order protecting White House press credentials expires (washingtontimes.com)

Tue Oct 13

HearingU.S. District Court for the District of Columbia — Judge Timothy Kelly intends to rule on whether to issue a preliminary injunction against the White House press ban (AP)

Full calendar and .ics feed →

Speech & Press

The DOJ investigates 5 networks over an antitrust pool boycott.(reason.com)

New York penalizes swastika displays as hate-crime harassment.(Reason)

Whistleblower David Grusch sued the Defense Department over 6,000 withheld pages.(USA Herald - The People's Voice)

Useful

Atlas of Surveillance(atlasofsurveillance.org)

EFF's searchable record of which surveillance technologies each police department has bought, by city and agency.

All the tools and guides →

Past issues

Mon, Oct 12

UK Border Force launched facial recognition

Fri, Oct 9

Flock refused to remove college cameras

Thu, Oct 8

Internal reports show Homeland Security…

Wed, Oct 7

South Windsor ends Flock reader contract

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…

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