404 Media asks residents to request Axon license plate camera logs from local police

Cities are replacing Flock automatic license plate readers with equivalent cameras from Axon, the law enforcement contracting company, after reporting by 404 Media showed police using Flock to run lookups for ICE and a Texas officer searching the network nationwide for a woman who self-administered an abortion.

404 Media is now asking residents to file public records requests for Axon's internal activity reports, which show when officers searched the cameras, their names and badge numbers, the plates they looked up, and the stated reason. The outlet has obtained reports from six departments so far — Benton County, WA; Falmouth, ME; Johns Creek, GA; Ocean Shores, WA; Pleasanton, TX; and Red Wing, MN — and is requesting logs covering January 2025 onward.

The outlet also wants network sharing reports, which show which outside agencies a department shares plate data with. 404 Media published a template request language for residents to copy and submit through their local agency or Muckrock.