Surveillance Alerts // Live Feed

Get notified when new cameras are discovered, FOIA responses are published, or council votes are scheduled.

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Surveillance Alert: NWA Region

Do you feel safe yet?

deflockNWA is an open-source, community-driven initiative to locate, map, and expose this tracking infrastructure right here in our own backyard. Public roads must not serve as an unmonitored mass-surveillance grid; we exist to bring complete transparency to our streets and push back against unchecked surveillance overreach.

View the FACTS File A FOIA Request
Status
Regional Surveillance Active
Jurisdiction
Benton & Washington Counties
Units Mapped
120+ Estimated

§ 00 / Briefing

An Unchecked Dragnet

Number of documented cases of officer abuse: 290 (opens in a new tab)

With automated license plate readers quietly proliferating across Northwest Arkansas, our local intersections have become active nodes in an unchecked nationwide surveillance dragnet.

Over 40,000 cameras operating across 49 states log billions of vehicle sightings monthly into centralized private databases, converting daily commutes, doctor visits, and school drop-offs into searchable travel histories and pattern-of-life tracking on law-abiding citizens.

By outsourcing mass surveillance to private contractors like Flock Safety, local municipalities bypass core Fourth Amendment protections to establish passive checkpoints without judicial oversight, probable cause, or genuine public consent.

Do you know your rights?

Do you feel safe yet?

§ 01 / Intelligence Feed // National & Local

Flock Safety in the News

Curated coverage tracking Flock Safety ALPR rollouts, community pushback, government bans, documented misuse, and civil-liberties litigation nationwide.

Win / Removal Abuse / Misuse Pinned records

  1. Win Local Jul 2026 5NEWS / KUAF Public Radio

    Pea Ridge Police Department Discontinues Flock Safety License Plate Reader Program (opens in a new tab)

    After community feedback on privacy and public trust, Pea Ridge PD announced it would end its Flock Safety contract - joining Centerton, Farmington, and other NWA cities that have walked away from the system.

  2. Win Local Sep 2026 Conduit News / 5NEWS

    Washington County Quorum Court Votes 13-2 to Ban ALPR Spending (opens in a new tab)

    On September 17, 2026, the Washington County Quorum Court passed an ordinance prohibiting county funds from being spent on automated license plate reader systems like Flock Safety, citing privacy risks and surveillance concerns.

  3. Win Local Aug 2026 Delta-Plex News

    Centerton City Council Unanimously Votes to Terminate Flock Safety Contract (opens in a new tab)

    The Centerton City Council voted unanimously on August 11, 2026 to end its Flock Safety agreement after residents raised sustained concerns about data privacy, access controls, and the lack of local oversight.

  4. Win Local Aug 2026 NWA Report

    Farmington PD Lets Flock Safety Contract Expire, Citing False Alerts and Reduced Data Access (opens in a new tab)

    The Farmington Police Department did not renew its Flock Safety contract after it expired August 10, 2026 - citing technical issues including false stolen-plate alerts and Flock cutting the department's data window from 30 days to just 7.

Curated articles sourced from public records. Links open in a new tab. Know of a story we're missing? Submit a tip.

§ 02 / Regional Scope: Benton & Washington Counties

ALPR Network Coverage in Northwest Arkansas

Estimated ALPR Units Mapped
120+
Searchable Cloud Retention
30Days
Public Referendums Held
0
Cameras Operating Nationwide
40,000+
States With Active Networks
49
Nationwide Cross-Jurisdiction Sharing
Active

Data compiled from community field observations, Benton County Sheriff's Office public records disclosures, Rogers PD procurement filings, Fayetteville public meeting minutes, and statewide FOIA responses. Camera counts are estimated and updated as new data becomes available. Contribute verified locations at deflock.org (opens in a new tab).

§ 03 / Technical Dossier

What Gets Logged Every Time You Drive Past a Flock Safety Camera

Each Flock Safety Falcon camera captures and transmits the following data to cloud storage accessible by subscribing law enforcement agencies, with no warrant, probable cause, or judicial oversight required for queries.

Vehicle Capture Data Points

  1. License Plate OCR

    Optical character recognition extracts plate number, state of issuance, and plate type classification.

  2. Vehicle Identification

    Make, model, generation, body type, and color, matched against a vehicle fingerprint database.

  3. Distinguishing Features

    Bumper stickers, roof racks, trailer hitches, dents, aftermarket modifications, logged as "Vehicle Fingerprint" attributes for re-identification even without a readable plate.

  4. Timestamp & Travel Direction

    GPS-synced timestamp, travel direction (N/S/E/W), and lane position for movement pattern analysis.

  5. Contextual Image Capture

    Full-frame photograph of the vehicle, occupant silhouettes, and surrounding traffic, retained alongside metadata.

  6. Wireless Network Sniffing

    Some Flock units detect Bluetooth and WiFi probe requests from in-vehicle and passenger devices, creating an additional device-level tracking vector.

Officers query plates without individualized suspicion on a routine basis.

Constitutional & Oversight Concerns

Fourth Amendment Search Protections

The Supreme Court ruled in Carpenter v. United States (2018) that prolonged tracking of an individual's movements constitutes a Fourth Amendment search. ALPR networks that aggregate location data over time may meet this threshold, yet no Arkansas municipality has enacted warrant requirements for ALPR queries. Officers query plates without individualized suspicion on a routine basis.

Cross-Jurisdiction & Out-of-State Access

Flock Safety's platform enables nationwide agency-to-agency data sharing. A plate scanned in Rogers, Arkansas can be queried by a department in Virginia, Texas, or California. There is no statutory framework in Arkansas governing which out-of-state agencies can access NWA plate data or for what investigative purpose.

Absence of Municipal Oversight

No NWA municipality has established a civilian oversight board, mandatory audit schedule, or public reporting requirement for ALPR deployments. Procurement decisions are typically made by police departments through operational budgets, bypassing city council approval and public comment entirely.

Data Retention Without Consent

The standard Flock Safety data retention window is 30 days, but agencies can negotiate longer retention periods. During this window, the complete travel history of every vehicle that passes a camera is searchable, regardless of whether the vehicle or its owner is under investigation.

§ 04 / FOIA Generator

Arkansas Public Records Request Template

Under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act (A.C.A. § 25-19-101 et seq.), every citizen has the right to inspect and copy public records. Select a target agency below, review the pre-filled request, and copy it to your clipboard.

§ 05 / Take Action

Contact Your Representatives in Benton and Washington Counties

Attend public meetings. Submit public comments. Demand transparency and civilian oversight before ALPR networks are expanded further across Northwest Arkansas.

Fayetteville City Council

Meets 1st & 3rd Tuesday of each month at 5:30 PM

113 W Mountain St, Fayetteville, AR 72701

Public comment: Sign up at the meeting or submit written comments to the City Clerk's office prior to the session.

Rogers City Council

Meets 2nd & 4th Tuesday of each month at 6:30 PM

301 W Chestnut St, Rogers, AR 72756

Public comment period available at the beginning of each regular meeting.

Bentonville City Council

Meets 2nd & 4th Tuesday of each month at 6:00 PM

117 W Central Ave, Bentonville, AR 72712

Public comment: Citizens may address the council during the designated comment period.

Springdale City Council

Meets 2nd & 4th Tuesday of each month at 6:00 PM

201 Spring St, Springdale, AR 72764

Public comment period at the beginning of regular sessions.

Benton County Quorum Court

Meets 1st Thursday of each month

215 E Central Ave, Suite 217, Bentonville, AR 72712

Contact the County Judge's office to be placed on the agenda.

Washington County Quorum Court

Meets 3rd Thursday of each month at 6:00 PM

280 N College Ave, Suite 300, Fayetteville, AR 72701

Voted to bar county funds from ALPR purchases. Attend to support enforcement.

§ 06 / Mission // Who We Are

About De-Flock NWA

Project Overview

De-Flock NWA is an independent, non-partisan civil watchdog project dedicated to documenting, mapping, and challenging warrantless mass vehicular surveillance across Benton and Washington Counties in Northwest Arkansas.

Automated license plate readers (ALPRs) create an inescapable dragnet of public movements, tracking everyday residents without warrants or probable cause.

We believe that public safety should never come at the expense of Fourth Amendment privacy rights and community transparency.

Open Data

All camera records, contracts, and meeting minutes collected are released into the public domain.

Civilian Oversight

Empowering local residents with the records, facts, and legal precedents to demand accountability at city council meetings.

100% Volunteer Driven • Zero Corporate Funding

§ 07 / Dispatches // Analysis & Updates

Blog & Field Notes

Local reporting, council vote debriefs, investigations, and newsletter issue summaries from the frontlines in NWA.

Newsletter Archive ↗ (opens in a new tab)

Local Dispatch #01

Pea Ridge Paved the Way: How Grassroots Pressure Removed Flock in NWA

When Pea Ridge chose not to renew its Flock contract, it proved that pushback works in Northwest Arkansas. Here is the blueprint of what happened and what other NWA municipalities can learn from it.

Analysis Read in Newsletter

Field Report #02

The $800k Hidden Interlocal Agreement: Washington County's Vote

A breakdown of the 13-2 Quorum Court vote that blocked taxpayer funds from subsidizing ALPR network expansion across unincorporated county roads.

Council Debrief Read in Newsletter

§ 08 / Alliances // Civil Liberties Coalition

Partners in Freedom

Allied organizations, open-source researchers, and legal advocates dedicated to halting warrantless dragnet surveillance.