Casey Miller

Sifting through the static to ask the question of our era: Pattern or Noise?

[Casey Miller @PatternOrNoise]

https://t.co/XSkX5Kl6dQ

[Casey Miller @PatternOrNoise]

That's the shape of it, and Littleton isn't isolated. Evanston terminated after the Illinois Secretary of State's audit found the company sharing state data with CBP — then Flock reinstalled cameras anyway, and the city had to send a cease-and-desist.

The structural version of your list: cities lease the hardware, so cancellation is a request, not a switch they control. Dayton found thousands of banned immigration searches in its own logs, couldn't quickly exit the contract, and put trash bags over 72 cameras while it figured out how.

Most councils never read the termination and disclosure terms before signing.

Wrote a full guide, and your tool is in it: https://t.co/e64uCbkNy2

[Casey Miller @PatternOrNoise]

https://t.co/XSkX5Kl6dQ

[Casey Miller @PatternOrNoise]

On Hanania's question — that's a correlation problem, not evidence. Violent crime fell nationally in places with heavy Flock deployment and in places with none. Auto theft spiked in 2022 for reasons (a Hyundai/Kia security flaw, viral theft tutorials) that had nothing to do with cameras, then fell as those got patched. Cameras rolled out during the decline; that doesn't mean they caused it.

The actual research is thinner than either side admits. ALPRs reliably increase stolen-vehicle recoveries. Evidence they reduce crime overall is weak — one 2025 study of a full-coverage deployment in Atlantic City found no drop in violent crime.

Your point stands on its own merits either way. But it's worth having the numbers, because "crime went down" is the argument you'll hear at every council meeting.

Full guide, all sourced: https://t.co/e64uCbkNy2

[Casey Miller @PatternOrNoise]

https://t.co/XSkX5Kl6dQ

[Casey Miller @PatternOrNoise]

The broader point is right and underreported: Flock isn't only plate readers. The product line includes PTZ video cameras, gunshot detection, and drones — most people picture the small black box and stop there.

Worth separating two things, though. A camera on private property bought by the property owner is a different question from a police-contracted plate reader feeding a national database that 5,000 agencies can query. The second one is where the documented problems are: audits finding federal agencies in local data, and at least 50 officers accused of misusing the system to track people they knew.

Full guide, all sourced: https://t.co/e64uCbkNy2

[Casey Miller @PatternOrNoise]

https://t.co/XSkX5Kl6dQ

[Casey Miller @PatternOrNoise]

The sign is a small story. The thing it's pointing at isn't.

A business owner objecting to a camera aimed at his own lot has almost no recourse — the plate reader is usually a police contract or a private one he isn't party to, and there's no law requiring anyone to tell his customers they're being logged.

Retail lots are the least regulated part of the whole network: state ALPR statutes almost all govern police use, not the cameras in a parking lot. Home Depot and Lowe's already share data from hundreds of their own Flock cameras with police.

If you want to know whether your plate's been searched, the audit logs are public: https://t.co/DZDg9JfwTf

Full guide: https://t.co/e64uCbkNy2

[Casey Miller @PatternOrNoise]

https://t.co/XSkX5Kl6dQ

[Casey Miller @PatternOrNoise]

The "intelligently regulated" framing is right but the phrase is doing a lot of load-bearing work.

The regulations mostly exist. Illinois barred immigration-related sharing in 2023 — and its own Secretary of State's audit later found CBP in Illinois plate data anyway. Mountain View set California-only access and found the ATF, Air Force and GSA Inspector General in its logs. Oxnard's own settings were overridden by a nationwide query toggle it didn't enable.

The gap isn't between regulated and unregulated ALPRs, it's between rules on paper and rules that hold when 5,000 agencies share one database.

Full guide with the audits, the caselaw after Chatrie, and what the research shows on crime reduction: https://t.co/e64uCbkNy2

[Casey Miller @PatternOrNoise]

https://t.co/XSkX5Kl6dQ

[Casey Miller @PatternOrNoise]

This is the sharpest version of the phone comparison I've seen.

Worth adding the part that makes it concrete: you can check whether police have actually searched your plate. The audit logs are public — https://t.co/DZDg9JfwTf. One woman found out her ex, a sitting police chief, had run her plate ~600 times.

I wrote a full citizen's guide — what Flock collects, who funds it, where the law stands after the Supreme Court's Chatrie ruling, and the 10 questions to ask your city council: https://t.co/e64uCbkNy2

[Casey Miller @PatternOrNoise]

https://t.co/XSkX5Kl6dQ

[Casey Miller @PatternOrNoise]

@DemzDeliver Their own inspector general found ~1 in 3 hot-list alerts were inaccurate. Wrote up the full picture here: https://t.co/XnURVquQoZ

[Casey Miller @PatternOrNoise]

https://t.co/XSkX5Kl6dQ

[Casey Miller @PatternOrNoise]

Actually there are several cow-friendly lobbies, including…

Farm Sanctuary — advocates specifically around farm animal treatment and factory farming practices

Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) — focuses heavily on policy work, particularly around farm animal welfare, wildlife protection, and humane trapping standards

The Humane Society Legislative Fund (HSLF) — the lobbying/political arm of the Humane Society of the United States; one of the most active animal welfare lobbying organizations, working on state and federal legislation

…just to moo a few.

[Casey Miller @PatternOrNoise]

Two things that take five minutes:
Check your plate: https://t.co/iLguyoXmhW
Check your town: https://t.co/yQTKYKWwVO

Reply with your city and what you find.

[Casey Miller @PatternOrNoise]

You can find out in 30 seconds whether police have searched your license plate. (Link in the replies)

It's legit. The search logs are public.

Here's what's actually going on with those black cameras on your street. 🧵

[Casey Miller @PatternOrNoise]

I wrote the full guide: what they collect, who funds them (your tax dollars + a16z), where the law stands after the Supreme Court's Chatrie ruling, and the 10 questions to ask your city council.
https://t.co/MOUyZIMW4N

[Casey Miller @PatternOrNoise]

https://t.co/XSkX5Kl6dQ

[Casey Miller @PatternOrNoise]

@ChrisWickNews The quiet death of everyday kids...i.e., the lack of traction to make any meaningful change around school shootings. Fatalism/resignation, desensitization, and issue fatigue combined with a government built to stall any momentum = relentless orders for child-sized coffins.