Automated license-plate readers do not wait for a crime to be reported. They photograph passing vehicles, attach a time and location, and retain the record for an authorized user to search later.
Most people barely notice the boxes and solar panels positioned above the road. On Sunday, Indianapolis cyclists made them the destinations.
The Cameras Became the Tour Stops
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Fred Miller, an Indianapolis activist and artist with a background in technology, billed Sunday’s event as the “World’s First Ever Flock Bike Tour.”
Instead of avoiding the city’s automated license-plate readers, the riders followed a route built around them.
WRTV reported that more than 60 cyclists joined the seven-mile ride, passing several cameras before reaching Monument Circle. WTHR said the tour also moved through the Factory Arts District and along Mass Ave.
The riders stopped at camera locations for speakers and explanations of how the system works. City-County Councilor Jesse Brown was among the people who addressed the group.
The event listing advertised a relaxed, two-hour ride open to cyclists of all skill levels. Its stated purpose was to trace the spread of Flock cameras through downtown, explain the controversy surrounding them and connect residents with ways to influence local policy.
A Protest Built for People Who Cannot Risk Arrest
Miller conceived the ride as an alternative for residents who oppose the cameras but cannot risk an arrest or vandalism charge by physically damaging them.
He told WTHR that he was raised by a single mother who could not have placed her family’s security at risk for a protest. She could, however, have brought her children on a bike ride where they could learn about the issue and voice their concerns.
That was the audience Miller wanted to reach: parents, workers and families living paycheck to paycheck who might care about government surveillance but cannot afford to make their point from inside a jail cell.
“No physical damage, just taking up space and keeping people educated,” Miller told WRTV.
Miller did not pretend that every opponent of the cameras shares his position on vandalism. He described resistance to government intrusion as a recurring part of American history. He also noted that when equipment is destroyed, taxpayers can be left paying for its replacement.
The bike tour offered a more ordinary model: locate the cameras, understand what they collect, meet an elected official and press the city for rules governing who can search the system and under what circumstances.
Indianapolis Had Just Seen the Risk Up Close
The tour arrived during an active Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department misconduct investigation involving the same technology.
On Aug. 13, IMPD announced that an officer had been suspended after allegedly using automated license-plate readers for personal reasons. Chief Tanya Terry recommended that the officer be terminated, but that recommendation still had to proceed through the department’s disciplinary process.
WTHR’s report on the suspension said IMPD learned about the alleged misuse on Aug. 6. The department immediately removed the officer’s police powers, revoked access to the license-plate reader system and collected department-issued equipment, including the officer’s computer.
Administrative and criminal investigations remained open. The officer had not been publicly identified or criminally charged in the reporting available when the bike tour took place.
Indiana Capital Chronicle reported that the officer allegedly searched vehicles associated with his wife and acquaintances as many as 3,759 times over approximately 10 months.
IMPD has defended automated license-plate readers as valuable investigative tools. The department credits them with helping officers find missing and endangered people, recover stolen vehicles and identify suspects in serious crimes.
Among the cases cited by IMPD were the recovery of an 86-year-old man who could not remember how to get home, the location of three missing foster children reportedly being taken toward Mexico and arrests connected to the theft of approximately $2 million in cash and jewelry from an Indianapolis store.
The usefulness of the search does not restrict the person conducting it. The same database can be used to find a missing child or, as the department’s investigation alleges, repeatedly search vehicles connected to someone in an officer’s personal life.
The City’s Contract Runs Through 2028
Indianapolis and Marion County have made a substantial commitment to the system.
The city’s agreement with Flock Group runs through Dec. 31, 2028, and caps total compensation under the contract at $6 million.
The agreement says Flock footage is deleted on a rolling 30-day basis unless a particular order form establishes a different retention period. It permits access for crime awareness, prevention and prosecution, legitimate investigations and law-enforcement evidence gathering.
Authorized users can view, search, download and archive records through Flock’s online interface. The contract also places responsibility on the city for the acts and omissions of its authorized users.
That last provision became less abstract once an officer’s search history came under investigation.
Indiana still lacks a comprehensive statewide law establishing uniform rules for police access, retention, data sharing and independent oversight of automated license-plate readers. Departments are instead governed largely by their own policies, contracts and whatever safeguards their vendors place inside the software.
Several Indiana lawmakers have said they want to preserve the cameras’ investigative value while establishing statewide guardrails against misuse.
Flock’s New Guardrails Do Not Rewrite the Contract
Flock announced several changes on Aug. 13, the same day IMPD publicly disclosed the Indianapolis investigation.
Flock’s announcement recommended reducing the default retention period from 30 days to seven. The company also said law-enforcement searches would require case codes by the end of the year and that customers would have to adopt its Audit Assistance system, which looks for abnormal activity.
Flock said unusually suspicious activity could trigger an automatic lockout until an administrator reviews the account. Emergency searches could bypass the case-code requirement, but those searches would be flagged for review.
The company also made clear that existing customers would retain their previously approved retention periods unless they adopted the new recommendation. The announcement therefore does not, by itself, reduce the 30-day period contained in Indianapolis’ agreement.
Miller wants the cameras removed. Failing that, he wants enforceable limits on access and a warrant requirement for searches.
He also said the Indianapolis ride would not be the last.
The search power that can locate a missing person can also be turned toward a spouse or acquaintance. The cyclists put that fact on the street Sunday, one camera stop at a time.