What Are ALPRs?
Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) are high-speed cameras that capture license plate numbers, timestamps, and location data from every passing vehicle. They are typically mounted on police cars, traffic poles, or fixed locations throughout a community.
In New Canaan, there are 26 known ALPR cameras (mostly Flock Safety brand, operated by the New Canaan Police Department, with some operated by neighboring departments). This map visualizes their locations using open data from the DeFlock project.
Why This Matters
Mass Surveillance
ALPRs track every vehicle, not just those suspected of crimes. This creates a detailed map of innocent people's movements: where you live, work, worship, shop, and seek medical care.
Data Retention & Sharing
Data is often retained for months or years and shared with regional/national databases (like NLETS, fusion centers, or private vendors). Your plate data can leave New Canaan without your knowledge.
Minimal Oversight
Many ALPR deployments happen without public hearings, clear policies, or community input. Contracts with vendors like Flock Safety or Axon may limit transparency.
Mission Creep
Systems sold for "finding stolen cars" expand to immigration enforcement, tracking visits to sensitive medical facilities, political protest monitoring, and more.
Key Resources from Fairfield, CT
The neighboring DeFlock Fairfield community has done extensive research on ALPRs in Connecticut. Their work is highly relevant to New Canaan:
- Axon ALPR Risks in Fairfield, CT: Identifying critical gaps in oversight and privacy protections.
- Request a Public Hearing on Axon ALPR Technology: Template to mail/email town officials demanding transparency.
- Fairfield, CT Axon Documents: Contract and invoice for Fairfield's Axon ALPR/surveillance agreement (via FOIA).
- Fairfield PD Publishes New ALPR Information Page: Analysis of what the police department discloses (and doesn't).
- ALPR Claims vs. Facts: Examining common claims about camera networks.
- Cameras in Our Community Webinar Recap: Expert panel recording and summary on ALPRs.
Take Action in New Canaan
1. Request Public Records
File a FOIA request with the New Canaan Police Department for:
- ALPR camera locations and manufacturers
- Data retention policies
- Data sharing agreements (with other towns, state, federal agencies, private companies)
- Contracts with vendors (Flock Safety, Axon, etc.)
- Audit logs of who accessed the data
2. Attend Town Meetings
Speak at Board of Selectmen, Police Commission, or Town Council meetings. Ask:
- What is the policy governing ALPR use?
- How long is data kept?
- Who has access?
- Was there a public hearing before deployment?
3. Contact Officials
Email or call:
- First Selectman: Town leadership
- Police Chief: Operational oversight
- Town Council members: Legislative control
4. Use the Fairfield Template
Adapt the public hearing request template from DeFlock Fairfield for New Canaan officials.
About This Map
This map is built with open-source tools: Leaflet for mapping, Leaflet.markercluster for clustering, and OpenStreetMap for the base layer.
Camera data comes from the DeFlock project, a community-driven effort to map ALPRs across the United States. Data is crowdsourced and may be incomplete or contain errors.
Source code: Maintained in the project repository.