By Gus Saltonstall
A screenshot of the Upper West Side from a map of Automated License Plate Reader camera locations has received enormous attention online in the past few days.
As you can see from the image, all but one Manhattan neighborhood has multiple dots.
The Upper West Side is empty. It is eye-catching.
The map in question is called DeFlock, which is an open-source, volunteer-powered project for identifying and documenting the locations of automated license plate readers across the United States. The map, which was referenced and linked to in a New York Times article on Tuesday, gets its name from Flock Safety.
Flock Safety is a private company based in Atlanta, Georgia, that creates these automated license plate reader cameras that then use artificial intelligence to identify and track vehicles. The use of the company’s cameras has grown increasingly controversial due to worries about unwanted surveillance and breaches of privacy.
You can read more about the debate surrounding Flock’s cameras — HERE.
But, back to the Upper West Side.
“Odd, there’s not a SINGLE Flock camera on the Upper West Side,” one person wrote on Twitter to the tune of 50,000 likes and 24 million views.
On Reddit, a person penned, “A Map of all the Flock Cameras in the Upper West Side of New York. Not a single one.” The post received more than 3,000 upvotes and over 340 comments.
There are multiple apparent misunderstandings connected to the DeFlock map and screenshot of the Upper West Side that West Side Rag wants to clarify.
The first? The DeFlock map shows locations of all Automated License Plate Reader cameras, not just cameras made by Flock Safety.
The second? There are no Flock Safety cameras in New York City.
The New York Police Department, the New York City Department of Transportation, and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which all operate or use Automated License Plate Reader cameras in the city, confirmed to West Side Rag on Thursday that they do not hold contracts with Flock Safety.
West Side Rag also clicked through all of the location dots for automated cameras in Manhattan on the DeFlock map to double-check, and found none made by Flock Safety.
Whereas, if you venture out to Kinnelon, New Jersey on the DeFlock map, you find cameras made by Flock.
That being said, the notoriety of Flock Safety has caused many people to mistakenly use the name Flock as a substitute for all Automated License Plate Reader cameras. While there are no Flock cameras in the five boroughs, as anyone who routinely drives knows, there are plenty of Automated License Plate Reader cameras in the city.
The Automated License Plate Reader cameras, sometimes referred to as Red Light cameras, have been used in New York City since 1994. These cameras are operated by the New York City Department of Transportation and are primarily used to catch cars committing traffic infractions.
As stated by DeFlock, its online map tracks all Automated License Plate Reader cameras, not just the automated cameras made by Flock Safety.
Many of the Manhattan Automated License Plate Reader cameras are made by companies such as Ekin Box Spotter or RedSpeed.
The question remains, though. Regardless of which company made the Automated License Plate Reader cameras, why are there none on the Upper West Side on the map?
The answer is that the open-source, volunteer-reliant map is incomplete.
There are plenty of Automated License Plate Reader cameras on the Upper West Side.
The city and police department try to keep the locations of these cameras secret, but law firms such as Weiss & Associates provide a list of where you can find some of them.
There are Automated License Plate Reader cameras at the following Upper West Side locations, according to the law firm.
- West 66th Street and West End Avenue
- West 72nd Street and Central Park West
- West 72nd Street and Amsterdam Avenue
- West 96th Street and Amsterdam Avenue
- West 96th Street and West End Avenue
- West 110th Street and Amsterdam Avenue
The automated cameras also appear in GPS apps such as Waze, and anyone who routinely drives on the Upper West Side could most likely provide a longer list of the camera locations than the one above.
Returning to the viral DeFlock map screenshot of our neighborhood.
For whatever reason, nobody has submitted the locations of the Automated License Plate Reader cameras to the DeFlock map for the Upper West Side, but as shown above, that does not mean they are not there.
Additionally, the red-lined box in the screenshot conveniently includes Central Park, where it makes sense that there aren’t cameras, and does not count the eight Automated License Plate Reader cameras along West 60th Street, which West Side Rag counts as the Upper West Side, connected to the MTA’s congestion pricing program.
If any Upper West Sider has free time, you can submit the locations of the Automated License Plate Reader cameras on the DeFlock map — HERE.
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it’s currently being used online to push an anti semetic trope. Very unfortunate
We need a lot more of these cameras. If the government takes them down, they can be on private property and billboards. More surveillance is needed not less.
When NYPD doesn’t want to publish the location of these cameras you know the intent is not safety but revenue generation. Fortunately, Waze remains the best crowd-sourced information repository for these things.
100% Revenue not safety. If safety, identify their locations with signs so people slow down.
If you don’t want to generate any revenue for the NYPD, just don’t speed and don’t run red lights. I don’t understand why every intersection in the neighborhood doesn’t have one of these cameras.
I neither speed nor run red lights. But how would you feel if the NYPD used those cameras and face recognition to give you tickets for jay walking? Hmm.
Jaywalking is legal in NYC. Yes, jaywalking is legal in New York City. Pedestrians can legally cross mid-block or against a traffic signal without facing civil or criminal fines.
I would feel like I had better stop jay walking!
good thing jaywalking is okay now.
It is no longer illegal to jay walk in NYC!
Or to just sell your data to marketers about how often you drive, gas consumption, who’s in the car with you, what you wear, what stores you shop at, the condition of your car, and other habits.
Who cares what marketers know? That’s noise that doesn’t change the way I live my life. Just the modern-day equivalent of junk mail.
I care. Caving in to junk mail and big government is no solution.
Jaywalkers don’t kill 200 New Yorkers every year. Dangerous drivers do. Not everything is the same, driving is objectively one of the very biggest threats in our city and people always respond to ways to make it safer with “well what about this other, less dangerous thing?”
Jaywalkers do kill people. Themselves. Especially at night when alcohol is involved.
Facts and logic in the WSR comments section? Bold move Josh P.
jaywalking is currently legal in NYC
That doesn’t make it acceptable if it creates a dangerous situation and reflects lack of civility in sharing public thoroughfares.
I don’t understand the point of publishing this information. Is it so people can speed around but slow down when they know they’re being watched. They’ll only slow down where there is speed camera then?
Around the country ANTIFA and other anti govt groups are encouraging people to damage these cameras.
Drivers who pass through red stop lights should get a ticket and a fine. If they cause a crash or injury, the penalty should be more severe. I accidently skipped a red light a few years ago, got caught and paid up. Now I drive more carefully. I support enforcement cameras.
Now do e-bikes!
It would be better to do every intersection for cars first, but if we do that then sure!
If ebikes were licensed, could the cameras do both?
As Twain allegedly said, a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes. Sadly this is even more true in our current era. Thanks Gus for putting the facts out there.
Cars coming off/heading for the highway are constantly running the light at Riverside and 79th which has heavy pedestrian traffic–I **wish** more of their licenses would be recorded and the drivers fined.
I’ve asked Gale Brewer how we can improve that intersection and I’ve never gotten an answer. More cops, cameras, or at the very least replace those beat up plastic sticks with a boulder that will actually deter a car from driving into the pedestrian areas of the crosswalk.
There often are traffic cops there.
You all realize ALPR technology doesn’t work if the license plate has been defaced/covered/treated with saline solution to baffle the infrared sensors, right?
Tons of cars in the city are modified in this manner. The technology is responsible for $100 million/year of lost toll revenue on city bridges and tunnels – let alone the cost of these contracts and the massive boon to the cops and feds for bulk surveillance data (BUT TRUST US).
Call 311 and report ‘improper’ license plates when you spot them. NYPD will respond.
Pass the Kleenex.
This is going to sound like I’m Gus’ mom using a burner account, but whatever: Really solid reporting here; the amount of work it took to dig into this and clarify things was obviously considerable. (It’s also a good reason to occasionally click that button above that says “Support the Rag.”)
It strikes my as incredibly odd and naive, especially in this day and age, that people out on the street would believe they have a right of privacy. There is no such thing as a reasonable expectation of privacy when you place yourself in public space.
These flock cameras are creating databases to analyze and track your every move. This goes WAY beyond a simple CCTV providing surveillance to your bussiness
Privacy isn’t all or nothing, and we do have plenty of rights to privacy. The issue is how much.
Excellent explaining of a hairball situation. Thanks, Gus.
If these cameras catch criminals, is there a problem?
Great reporting!
There are no flock cameras in NYC. There are plenty of AI license plate traffic cameras in the neighborhood though