To the Editor:
I’m writing to let fellow Princeton residents know about a growing concern I think deserves more public attention: the use of Flock Safety cameras, also known as automated license plate readers, throughout Mercer County and within Princeton.
If you haven’t heard of these before, Flock cameras are not ordinary security cameras. They read and log the license plate, and often the make, model, and color, of every car that passes, along with the exact time and location. They do this for every vehicle, not just ones suspected of an infraction.
According to a July 30 nj.com investigation, there are now more than 500 of these cameras operating in Mercer County alone. The same reporting found that most agencies running this technology in New Jersey (Mercer County included), don’t just keep this data for their own local crime prevention. They actively share it with hundreds of other police departments, across state lines, and at the federal level. Once your plate is logged here in Princeton, there’s a real chance that record ends up in the hands of an agency in another state entirely, or with a federal agency including DHS, with little say from you.
Additionally, according to a July 2025 audit performed by the New Jersey State Police, both Princeton Police Department and the Princeton University Police Department have an automated license plate reader program.
I understand the appeal. Nobody wants to make it easier for stolen cars to disappear or for real crimes to go unsolved. But I don’t think the occasional recovered car justifies building a permanent, shared record of where every Princeton resident drives, when, and how often. That tradeoff isn’t a small one, and I don’t think most residents have had a real say in it. Most towns and counties using this technology, including ours, adopted it with little public debate and even less transparency about data retention and sharing agreements.
That’s why I’ve started a petition asking Princeton Council to enact a local ban on Flock cameras and similar ALPR systems within town limits, along with full disclosure of current camera locations and data-sharing agreements, and a public hearing before anything like this is considered again.
I don’t think wanting privacy and wanting safety have to be at odds. Princeton can be a safe town without becoming one more data point in a nationwide surveillance network we never agreed to join.
If you share these concerns, I’d encourage you to review the petition, sign it if you agree, and consider showing up when this comes before Council. The petition can be found at change.org/princetonnoflock. Decisions like this work best when the people who actually live here are part of the conversation from the start.