How it goes up

Installation

Pole attachment, subscription hardware, 30-day removal clocks, as-builts. Public consent is optional until a statute says otherwise.

1. Local

   Consent agenda, then a pole

   Install is often bundled into the subscription: vendor crews, existing poles, solar. Public hearings are not required unless local policy or state law says so. Some deployments have gone up without the permit the DOT later said was required.

   Pull the item off consent. Ask for as-builts and the pole owner.

   supportedevidence

   ACLU — How to fight Flock and other ALPR mass surveillance · TechTimes — Flock reforms leave the warrant gap open; 80+ communities canceled in 2026

2. County

   Rural corridors, high yield for the network

   County-line and arterial poles fill gaps between city clusters. That is how a ‘local’ system becomes statewide in practice without a statewide vote.

   Ask for a map of county-owned vs vendor-owned poles.

   unproveninference

   State of Surveillance — Flock network, ICE search pathways, state statutes

3. State

   A 30-day clock is not a statewide teardown

   FDOT’s clock runs on SHS right-of-way. County and city installs continue unless those owners act. After-action ‘still in violation’ claims need a sourced remaining-device report. Map tags are not that report.

   Watch the DOT after-action, not the crowd map.

   supportedevidence

   FDOT Engineering and Operations Memorandum No. 26-01 — LPR systems in SHS right-of-way

4. Federal

   The network is the product

   CRS (3 Sep 2026) cites crowdsourced counts north of 137,000 ALPR cameras at the end of August, with over 80% attributed to one vendor. That map is a floor, not a census. Installation is local. The searchable database is national. That mismatch is the policy problem.

   Talk about the database, not only the pole.

   supportedevidence

   CRS IN12735 — Federal Legislation and Oversight of Law Enforcement Use of ALPRs · Finding Flock — crowdsourced ALPR camera count (OpenStreetMap / DeFlock)