What's coming up

City Council first reading of the proposed data-center and BESS code amendments, per the published rulemaking schedule. PROVENANCE: proposed schedule via the Hillsboro News Times; confirm on the council agenda.

FOUR ACCURACY NUMBERS CIRCULATE AND THEY MEASURE FOUR DIFFERENT THINGS. This is the most misquoted area of the plate-reader argument and the confusion runs in both directions, so here they are with their denominators. FLOCK ADVERTISES 93 PER CENT READ ACCURACY -- the share of plates the camera transcribes correctly. THE EFF MEASURED STATE MISREADS AT ABOUT ONE IN TEN in November 2024, the same kind of measure from an outside party. ROSEVILLE, CALIFORNIA FOUND 71 PER CENT OF ALERTS WRONG across 1,427 alerts in 2023 and 2024, from the police department's own analysis -- but that is the share of ALERTS, not of reads, and the two are not comparable. A VALLEJO POLICE STUDY reported in Police Chief magazine put HIT-LEVEL error as high as 37 per cent. AND THE LAPD INSPECTOR GENERAL FOUND 32.3 PER CENT OF STOLEN-VEHICLE ALERTS FALSE across two months, WITH THE CAMERAS READING CORRECTLY -- that one is database error, not recognition error. WHY THE 71 PER CENT FIGURE IS BOTH ACCURATE AND MISLEADING: a system can read plates correctly almost every time and still produce mostly false alerts, because genuinely wanted vehicles are rare. A high alert-error rate is arithmetically compatible with a high read-accuracy rate. Anyone citing 71 per cent as the camera's error rate is wrong; anyone citing 93 per cent as evidence the alerts are reliable is also wrong. THESE RATES COMPOUND RATHER THAN SUBSTITUTE. A misread can produce a false alert; so can a correct read against a stale hotlist; and the Institute for Justice found MACHINE ERROR ACCOUNTS FOR ONLY ABOUT A THIRD of its 27 documented wrongful-stop cases. AT FLOCK'S OWN STATED SCALE of more than 20 billion vehicle scans a month, even the vendor's 93 per cent implies on the order of 1.4 billion misreads monthly -- which is why a per-read rate is the wrong unit for arguing about consequences, and why the alert and hit-level rates are the ones that reach people.

A COUNCIL VOTE IS A DECISION, NOT A REMOVAL. This map holds 167 records marked `removed`, and each assumes that when a jurisdiction ended its contract the cameras came down. TWO DOCUMENTED CASES SAY THAT IS AN ASSUMPTION. In LITTLETON, MASSACHUSETTS the Select Board ordered all six cameras powered down in May 2026 while it reviewed the technology and the governance policies -- and found the vendor had turned them back on by itself. The town moved to cancel outright, ordered the cameras removed and had the electricity cut. In EVANSTON, ILLINOIS the city terminated in late August 2025 and deactivated 19 cameras; Flock then BEGAN REINSTALLING CAMERAS ACROSS THE CITY, apparently without the knowledge of local officials or residents. Evanston issued a CEASE-AND-DESIST ORDER in September, after which the company said it would uninstall them. TWO TOWNS, TWO STATES, TEN MONTHS APART, THE SAME PATTERN: service a customer had ended was restored, and in both cases it took a further enforcement step -- an electricity cut, a legal order -- before the hardware actually stopped. WHAT THIS SHOULD CHANGE ABOUT HOW COUNTS ARE READ, INCLUDING OURS: every tally of cancellations on this subject, ours and the seven public trackers, records the DECISION. None of them verifies the removal. NOT ESTABLISHED: how often this happens. Two cases is a pattern worth naming and not a rate. THE QUESTION TO ASK any jurisdiction on a cancellation list is simply whether the cameras are physically gone and on what date -- which is answerable, and which nobody appears to be asking.

A public hearing at Montgomery County's Office of Zoning and Administrative Hearings on a proposed data center is scheduled for September 10-11.

THE STATE PAUSED ITS OWN LAND, WHICH REACHES FURTHER THAN IT SOUNDS. On 8 September 2026 Oregon Governor Tina Kotek directed state agencies to immediately pause work on unapproved data-centre proposals involving state-owned land or state buildings: easements, leases, land-use permits, and sales or transfers of state property. The pause runs until 1 July 2027 unless the governor's office or the Legislature acts sooner. IT DOES NOT TOUCH PRIVATE LAND, and the record should not be read as a statewide moratorium -- advocates are separately pushing a three-year statewide pause, and four Democratic legislators proposed one in August, while the governor announced on 24 August that she would bring her own bill in 2027 built on her advisory committee's recommendations. WHY A STATE-LAND PAUSE MATTERS ANYWAY: easements and state land-use permits are how many large projects reach the grid and the road, so a pause on state approvals can stall a private project without regulating it. THE MONEY IN THE BACKGROUND, attributed: reporting on Oregon's incentive programmes puts the data-centre industry's state tax breaks at roughly $450 million this year. It came the same week Eugene rejected a data centre at the former Hynix plant on zoning grounds, and the same week New Hampshire's governor said she would seek a multi-year moratorium in her next budget and Connecticut's governor called the state the wrong place for massive AI data centres. Governors of both parties, in one week.

A DATA CENTRE REJECTED BY READING THE EXISTING CODE, WITH NO NEW ORDINANCE AND NO PAUSE. On 8 September 2026 Eugene's Planning and Development Director, Alissa Hunter, notified land-use attorney Bill Kloos that a data centre is prohibited under the E-1 Campus Employment zoning of the former Hynix semiconductor plant at 1830 Willow Creek Circle -- a 1.2 million square foot factory on 200 acres in west Eugene that closed in 2008 and laid off 1,400 workers. Kloos had filed a zone verification request on 14 July on behalf of an unidentified client with the property under contract, asking whether a data centre, manufacturing, research and development, warehousing or office use would be allowed. THE REASONING IS THE PORTABLE PART. Eugene's code does not list data centres in E-1 but does allow Information Technology Services, and the buyer argued a data centre qualifies. The city said no on three grounds. First, that category was added to the code in 2001, before cloud computing and artificial intelligence, and the council could not have intended it to cover the large modern data centres described in the application. Second, when the council revised its zoning in 2014 and created E-1, it did not add data centres as an allowed use in any zone, even though cloud computing was widely available and data centres were already being built in Oregon. Third, the small number of employees would not meet the zone's economic diversification objectives -- an employment zone exists to site businesses that employ many people, and a data centre is close to self-operating. The city also raised noise and water impacts. THAT ARGUMENT IS AVAILABLE ANYWHERE LAND IS ZONED FOR JOBS, and it needed no vote, no moratorium and no new law. WHAT IT DOES NOT SETTLE: the decision covers E-1 only, not whether a data centre could go in an industrial zone, and it can be appealed to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals, which could uphold, remand or overturn it. A coalition led by Beyond Toxics, with the Cascades Raptor Center, Coast to Cascades Bird Alliance, Landwatch Lane County and the Oregon Sierra Club, had urged rejection and now says a moratorium is still needed until guardrails are adopted. The council will take up the broader question in December. NOT ESTABLISHED: whether the buyer appeals.

The deadline set by Sen. Hawley for Flock to produce documents, including every confirmed misuse since Jan 1 2021, contracts with local governments and revenue sources. PASSED WITH NO REPORTED OUTCOME as of 14 Sep 2026: no source establishes whether the documents were produced, no refusal is reported, and no subpoena has been issued. The letter itself did not threaten one.

The Plan Commission recommended a one-year moratorium on Aug 25; the Common Council takes the binding vote at its Sept 8 meeting. A recommendation is not a pause -- nothing is in force until this vote.

Third scheduled attempt at Councilman Russ Jehl's Data Center & Community Quality of Life+ Task Force, delayed 8-0 on Jun 16 and again on Jul 14. Fort Wayne has adopted no moratorium, so the task force is the accountability instrument on the table for a Google campus of 12 buildings phased across 892 acres on land already zoned industrial. Open questions at the last delay: committee size, who appoints, whether recommendations bind, and what timeline. Separately, Google subsidiary Hatchworks LLC has an IDEM application pending for 143 additional diesel generators.

Lynchburg had PAUSED its camera use, with cameras photographed covered in trash bags on Timberlake Road, and was reported as possibly next to end its contract after at least a dozen Virginia localities pulled away from Flock since July 2026. NOT ESTABLISHED: no decision is recorded here. Recorded as contesting rather than paused because the reporting describes an unresolved local debate rather than a formal suspension, and the distinction matters for any count. SOURCING: Cardinal News, 3 September 2026, which reported the week's decisions together; individual county statements have not been read directly.

Utah's agreement not to enforce the VPN and location-liability provisions of SB 73 expires Sept 3, 2026. SB 73 made Utah the first state to reach circumvention tools: a user is treated as accessing from Utah even through a VPN or proxy, and covered sites may not facilitate or encourage VPN use to bypass age gates. Utah agreed to the pause after Aylo, Pornhub's parent, filed a constitutional challenge in federal court; the rest of SB 73, including a 2 percent tax on online adult-content revenue, took effect May 6. If enforcement begins on schedule, this is the first US test of whether a state may penalize publishing information about VPNs -- a speech question wearing an age-verification jacket. Watch the federal docket, not just the date.

The county said on 2 September 2026 that it is terminating its Flock contract. Campbell surrounds Lynchburg, where cameras were photographed COVERED WITH TRASH BAGS while use was paused and where the council had not yet decided -- so a driver crossing the city line was moving between a county that had ended its programme and a city still holding one. SOURCING: Cardinal News, 3 September 2026, which reported the week's decisions together; individual county statements have not been read directly.

The county said on Wednesday 2 September 2026 that it is terminating its Flock contract, announced the same day as neighbouring Campbell County and the town of Wytheville. SOURCING: Cardinal News, 3 September 2026, which reported the week's decisions together; individual county statements have not been read directly.

The town suspended use of its camera system on Wednesday 2 September 2026, a day after the sheriff of the surrounding county announced it would end its own contract. Recorded as a suspension rather than a termination because that is what was announced -- the town stopped using the system without ending the agreement, which leaves the decision reversible in a way a termination is not. SOURCING: Cardinal News, 3 September 2026, which reported the week's decisions together; individual county statements have not been read directly.

A DEPUTY RESIGNED OVER FLOCK MISUSE AND NO CHARGES FOLLOWED, which is the outcome the other Carolina cases make visible by contrast. An Anderson County sheriff's deputy resigned in September 2026 amid a probe into misuse of the plate-reader system. Reporting frames the absence of charges as a STATUTORY GAP: South Carolina has no specific offence for misusing a plate-reader system, unlike Georgia, whose GBI has charged a string of officers under a misuse-of-license-plate-reader statute in the same weeks. Senate Bill 447, introduced in the 2025-2026 session, would create South Carolina's first statutory framework. THE COMPARISON IS THE POINT: the same conduct produces an arrest in Georgia and a resignation in South Carolina, and the difference is whether the legislature wrote the offence. With Colleton County's 2,700-search case a few weeks earlier and Greer's firings before that, South Carolina now has three documented misuse cases and zero criminal charges. NOT ESTABLISHED: the number of searches involved.

Clayton County Sheriff's Deputy Errol Farrell Jr., 40, surrendered to the GBI in the first days of September 2026 after the sheriff's office itself requested a state investigation into potential misuse of its Flock system. Preliminary information from the GBI is that he used the plate-reader system for non-law-enforcement purposes; he was booked into the Clayton County Jail and the GBI's Atlanta regional office is leading an active investigation. THE PATTERN THIS SITS IN: it is the fourth Georgia agency in about six weeks -- Savannah (six fired, four arrested), Albany (five fired), Paulding County (a 911 director arrested), and now Clayton. In every case the referral came from the department's OWN audit, and in every case the GBI rather than the department made the arrest. Georgia is producing criminal cases at a rate no other state on this map approaches, and the difference appears to be that departments are auditing and the GBI is willing to charge. Sheriff Levon Allen, who requested the probe, took office in 2023 after his predecessor was federally convicted on civil rights charges. NOT ESTABLISHED: what was searched, or how many times.

The county paused its camera use for a period of RESIDENT INPUT AND EDUCATION -- a stated purpose worth recording, because most pauses on this map are holding actions pending a legal review or a budget cycle, and a pause framed as a consultation commits the county to actually running one. NOT ESTABLISHED: the length of the pause or what form the consultation takes. SOURCING: Cardinal News, 3 September 2026, which reported the week's decisions together; individual county statements have not been read directly.

The sheriff's office announced on Tuesday 1 September 2026 that it would end its Flock contract. It was the opening move in a week that saw five Southwest and Central Virginia localities act in three days -- Wythe County and Charlotte County on the Tuesday, Appomattox and Campbell counties and the town of Wytheville on the Wednesday. NOTE THE PAIRING: the county sheriff ended the contract while the town of Wytheville inside it suspended its own system separately, recorded here as a distinct decision, because a county and a town within it hold separate agreements. SOURCING: Cardinal News, 3 September 2026, which reported the week's decisions together; individual county statements have not been read directly.

A Flock Safety contract vote is scheduled for Sept 1, 2026 per the Who Approved This contract tracker.

After the fifth trilogue on the permanent Child Sexual Abuse Regulation collapsed on June 29, 2026 over suspicionless scanning, a sixth negotiating round is expected under the incoming Irish Council presidency, likely in September 2026.

A Missouri House committee announced a September hearing on possible statewide data-center rules; the chair stopped short of a statewide moratorium but urged local pauses. Exact date to be set.

Crossville's 24-month data-center moratorium passed first reading Jul 14 and second Jul 28, 2026, but ordinances affecting property rights require THREE readings -- so the pause is not in force until a third vote. Recorded at month-end pending the posted agenda. Mayor R.J. Crawford has framed the temporary route as protection against multi-million-dollar developer suits; residents have pushed for the most permanent ban the city's authority allows.

THE SECOND STATE TO MOVE TO A DATA-CENTRE RATE CLASS, AND THE FIRST TO DO IT WITH A PACKAGE. California's Legislature closed its 2026 session in the last days of August by passing four data-centre bills that now sit on Governor Newsom's desk. SB 886 (Padilla) directs the Public Utilities Commission to establish a tariff covering interconnection, transmission, distribution and generation for data centres that connect at the transmission level with peak demand of at least 25 MW -- a separate rate class, so their costs are not spread across households. It passed along party lines. AB 2383 (Zbur), the Fair Share in Energy Act, requires separate generation and transmission tariffs for new large-load customers taking service on or after 1 January 2027. SB 1168 (McNerney) directs the Commission to assess rate structures ensuring data centres pay a reasonable share of transmission and distribution costs and their proportionate share of load growth, while easing pressure on residential ratepayers; the Senate concurred in Assembly amendments 38-0 on 30 August after a unanimous Assembly vote. SB 887 (Padilla) clarifies that the California Environmental Quality Act applies to data centres, which are not ministerial projects exempt from review, and offers accelerated review under the Environmental Leadership programme only to projects meeting added conditions on water, clean energy and paying full infrastructure costs. Two further Assembly bills require disclosure of energy and water use. THE DEADLINE IS THE END OF SEPTEMBER: the governor must sign or veto by then, and reporting says he has not indicated which way. He said he would discuss data centres further as the bills reached him. WHO IS ON EACH SIDE, attributed: the Padilla bills are co-sponsored by The Utility Reform Network and Net-Zero California; a CalMatters analysis of state disclosures found utilities, tech companies and industry trade groups spent millions lobbying the Legislature in the first half of the year. WHAT THIS ADDS TO THE MAP: New York's Responsible Data Center Development Act, still unsigned, would create a rate class at 20 MW. California's SB 886 sets its trigger at 25 MW. If Newsom signs, California becomes the largest state with data-centre rate separation, and the threshold question this map tracks gains a second statewide data point. Local pressure preceded it: Commerce imposed a 45-day freeze and Monterey Park banned data centres by an 88 per cent ballot vote earlier in 2026, both already recorded here. NOT ESTABLISHED: whether any of the four is signed, vetoed, or signed with a signing message that narrows it.

WHEN THE COUNCIL WILL NOT, RESIDENTS GO AROUND IT. This map holds at least eleven separate data-centre fights that left the council chamber for a mechanism the council does not control -- initiative, referendum, charter amendment, recall, or a rule requiring a public vote before a deal can close. Counted together they are a distinct route, and no ban tally captures any of them. THE CLEAREST WIN: Monterey Park, California became the first US city to permanently ban data centres by ballot, with Measure NDC carrying 88 percent on Jun 2, 2026 -- 10,321 to 1,362 -- amending the general plan itself, which a future council cannot simply repeal. That margin is the strongest voter mandate in this dataset by a wide distance. THE MOST COPIED MODEL IS OHIO'S CHARTER AMENDMENT. In Sunbury a citizen petition committee gathered more than 450 signatures against a requirement of roughly 172 and put a 25 MW cap on the November ballot; the council's only role was to certify it. Pataskala is running the same play in parallel against a 200 MW Aligned facility in Licking County, and reached the ballot after the council rejected the project outright. Two neighbouring Ohio communities using the identical instrument in the same cycle is what a template looks like. RECALL IS THE SHARPEST VERSION AND IT HAS WORKED. In Cascade Locks, Oregon residents recalled two Port officials in June 2023 over a $100 million project, and the replacement board killed it. In Claremore, Oklahoma residents moved to recall and referendum after the council approved Project Mustang over standing-room opposition. Removing the decision-maker is the one remedy that does not require the existing body to agree to anything. AND THE QUIETEST INSTRUMENT MAY BE THE MOST DURABLE: Port Washington, Wisconsin voters approved, by about 66 percent, a rule that any tax-incremental district of $10 million or more must first win a public vote. That bans nothing. It changes WHO DECIDES, permanently, for every future project -- and since these deals almost always run through incentives, it reaches the part of the process that moratoriums and use bans do not touch. Also on this route: Frederick County, Maryland, where organisers gathered signatures to overturn a 2024 ordinance that had approved 2,600 acres; Augusta Charter Township, Michigan, where 950 signatures forced a referendum on an 822-acre campus in a farming community of 8,000; and Boulder City, Nevada, voting in autumn 2026 on a prohibition. IT ALSO LOSES, AND THE LARGEST ATTEMPT DID. An Ohio statewide initiative to bar data centres above 25 MW gathered more than 73,000 signatures and its organisers said it would not make the 2026 ballot. Signature thresholds, filing deadlines and certification rules are themselves a filter, and a statewide petition is a far harder instrument than a municipal charter amendment. WHY THIS ROUTE EXISTS AT ALL is the through-line: every case here follows a body that had already decided, or was about to. Direct democracy is what residents reach for after the ordinary process has answered them. NOT ESTABLISHED: how many such attempts fail before qualifying. This map records the ones that got far enough to be reported, which is the same survivorship problem noted elsewhere here.

HOW SMALL DOES A DATA CENTRE HAVE TO BE TO ESCAPE? Almost every ordinance on this map that regulates data centres does it with a threshold, and a threshold is a CEILING, NOT A FLOOR -- it does not describe what is banned so much as define what is permitted. Reading the thresholds this map already holds side by side, the escape size varies by a factor of SEVENTY-FIVE. THE RANGE, from strictest to loosest: Santa Fe County, New Mexico at ONE megawatt; Eagan, Minnesota at 9 MW; South Dakota's data-centre bill of rights and Baltimore's pause at 10 MW; Summit, New Jersey and New York's pending Act and New Jersey's fair-share law at 20 MW; Sunbury, Ohio's ballot cap and Ohio's statewide petition at 25 MW; Florida's SB 484 and Lakeland's large-load rule and New York's executive order at 50 MW; and Little Rock, Arkansas at 75 MW or 250,000 square feet. Square-footage triggers vary as widely: Champaign County, Illinois catches anything over 10,000 SQUARE FEET, while North Mankato, Minnesota and Little Rock start at 250,000 -- a twenty-five-fold difference in the same unit. SANTA FE COUNTY ALREADY LEARNED THIS THE HARD WAY and is the most instructive entry: its threshold was LOWERED FROM 100 MEGAWATTS TO ONE during drafting. Whoever did that arithmetic worked out that 100 MW would have permitted essentially every facility likely to be proposed there. SUMMIT, NEW JERSEY IS THE CASE WHERE IT WAS SAID OUT LOUD BEFORE ADOPTION. A councilman objected that a 20 MW trigger sat at the top of the fastest-growing size category -- barring the rare giant, permitting the common kind -- and the council removed the number rather than adopt it. The city's own land-use manager had noted that a traditional server room already runs near 20 MW. WHY THIS IS NOT A CRITICISM OF THE TOWNS: a threshold is how you avoid banning a dentist's server closet, and every drafter faces the same problem with no standard to copy. THERE IS NO AGREED DEFINITION OF A DATA CENTRE IN AMERICAN LAND-USE LAW, so each jurisdiction invents one, and the number it picks is usually taken from whatever project it is currently worried about rather than from the category it means to regulate. A SECOND, SEPARATE WAY THRESHOLDS FAIL is recorded on this map already: in Eagan, Minnesota a developer is suing on the ground that only the state utilities commission may regulate power, so a megawatt trigger is preempted utility regulation. If that succeeds, every entry in the list above is forced onto square footage or water use instead. So a power threshold can fail by being too high to catch anything, or by being a power rule a municipality was never allowed to write. NOT ESTABLISHED: whether any of these thresholds has actually let a facility through. That would need permit records rather than ordinances, and it is the question worth asking next. NEW YORK ANSWERED THE PROBLEM WITH TIERS RATHER THAN ONE NUMBER, and it is the most careful drafting on this map. The Responsible Data Center Development Act (S10642/A11560) DEFINES a data centre at a peak demand of ONE MEGAWATT or more -- so the definition catches almost everything -- then attaches different obligations at different levels: energy efficiency goals above 5 MW, and the permit moratorium, the separate electric and water rate classes, and the host community benefit requirement all above 20 MW. A single threshold forces one choice between catching too much and catching too little. Tiering lets the definition be broad and the heaviest duties be narrow, which is exactly what Summit's councilman was reaching for when he objected that one number would bar the rare giant and permit the common kind. SCALE BEHIND IT, attributed: NYISO reported its large-load interconnection queue growing from six projects totalling about 1,045 MW in 2022 to 48 proposals totalling roughly 12 GW as of Dec 31, 2025. AND THE MORATORIUM IS NOT A BLANKET FREEZE -- it covers Department of Environmental Conservation permits and approvals, not other state, local or federal ones. CALIFORNIA ADDS A SECOND STATEWIDE POINT: SB 886, awaiting the governor at the end of September 2026, sets its rate-class trigger at 25 MW for data centres interconnecting at the transmission level -- five megawatts above New York's pending 20 MW, and the same figure Ohio's petition and Sunbury's ballot cap use.

ONE VENDOR IS NO LONGER ONE TECHNOLOGY, and this map could not see it until now. The stacked category counted VENDORS: a community appeared only if two or more companies had readers on its streets. That test cannot catch a council that bought plate readers and got an aerial programme from the same company, because the vendor count never moves. Applying a technology count instead adds ELEVEN communities the map already held records for and had never grouped: six running Flock (Dunwoody GA, Green Bay WI, Alameda County CA, Oakland County MI, Stockton CA, Fort Worth TX) and five running Axon (Syracuse NY, Knoxville TN, Denver CO, Douglas County CO, Grand Chute WI). Stacked goes from 12 to 23. THE CLEAREST CASES ARE IN THE DATA ALREADY. Dunwoody's vendor line literally reads plate readers, 911 dispatch and drones together, and the renewal that expanded it passed unanimously after the council had twice refused to vote. Green Bay signed a five-year, roughly $1.3 million extension that added Flock's drone-as-first-responder programme ON TOP OF the plate readers, in December 2025, while neighbouring Fox Valley cities were dropping Flock. Alameda County approved a $2.4 million extension 3-2 whose package runs well past plates. WHY IT MATTERS PRACTICALLY, and it is the same reason vendor stacking matters: a retention limit, an audit rule or a cancellation is written against ONE thing. A council that ends 'the Flock contract' may find the drone programme, the dispatch product or the data feed sat in a different line item and continues. The Asheville case recorded separately on this map is the same problem arriving from the other direction -- plate-reading rights bundled inside a body-camera contract. WHAT IS NOT ESTABLISHED: whether these eleven are the whole set. They are the ones whose existing records happened to name a second technology in a structured field. A community whose second system is mentioned only in prose, or not at all, is still invisible, and the answer to that is the same records request already noted -- ask for the FULL vendor agreement rather than the plate-reader line.

At least 56 US cities and towns deactivated, rejected or cancelled Flock contracts during 2026 by DeFlock's tally reported in Newsweek. THE SENTENCE THAT MATTERS MOST: there is NO CENTRAL GOVERNMENT DATABASE tracking these local decisions. Every count that exists -- DeFlock's, IJ's, Newsweek's, and this one -- is assembled by advocacy groups, journalists and volunteers from local reporting. There is no authoritative denominator, and any figure is a floor built from what someone happened to notice. THE COUNT MOVING IN REAL TIME MAKES THE POINT BETTER THAN THE ARGUMENT DOES: the Institute for Justice launched a dedicated cancellations database on Aug 26, 2026 listing 92 local governments; its own page said 128 as of Aug 27, and 137 as of Aug 28, with 140 entries displayed when we read it on Aug 30. Four figures in five days from one source, because it is updated daily as volunteers find more. IJ's rule is also STRICTER than DeFlock's: it excludes jurisdictions that only paused operations or switched provider, counting cancellations only. The gap between the counts is therefore DEFINITIONAL, not contradictory, and any figure this site publishes should say which rule it uses. Reading that database also found a duplicate in it -- one Michigan township listed twice, once under a county that does not exist -- which is the same caution applied to the best available source.

Delta County's Planning Commission forwarded a data-center moratorium decision to the county board, with its next meeting set for August 27; regional planners also presented an updated master plan and land-use framework.

THIRTY-EIGHT MUNICIPALITIES, FOUR OF THEM IN ONE WEEK, and the most of any state -- but read the count carefully. Stafford Township, Jackson Township, North Brunswick and East Brunswick all acted in the last week of August 2026, and New Jersey is approaching 40 municipal bans on data-centre construction. WHO IS COUNTING MATTERS, as it does for every tally on this site: the figure is kept by Climate Revolution Action Network New Jersey, an advocacy group that describes itself as the state's largest Gen-Z political organisation and that trains residents to pass these ordinances. It is the best count available and it is not a government register. THE LEGAL QUESTION UNDERNEATH THE NUMBER, raised by an opponent of data centres rather than a supporter: in New Jersey, as under most municipal land-use schemes, a use not specifically permitted is already prohibited. Jackson's own township counsel advised that data centres were therefore ALREADY barred everywhere in the township before any ban was passed, and the council president voted against the ordinance arguing that defining the use gives applicants' lawyers something to work with. If that reading is right, some share of these 38 ordinances are symbolic at best and counterproductive at worst -- and nobody counting bans is counting that distinction. NOT ESTABLISHED: no court has ruled, and the answer will differ by municipality depending on how each code is written. WHAT IS ALREADY BEING TESTED IS THE PRICE. Two developers have sued: Hexa Builders is seeking $300 MILLION from Monroe Township in Gloucester County over its April 2026 ban, now in federal court, and a developer sued Andover Township in Sussex County over its ban earlier. That is the same mechanism recorded on this map in Illinois, where a county's own attorney warned a moratorium invited suit and the moratorium died without a vote. In New Jersey the towns passed the bans anyway and the bill is arriving afterwards. WHAT WOULD SETTLE THE REAL QUESTION: how many of the 38 have been tested by an application or a suit. Thirty-six have not. THE COUNT IS NOT AGREED, AND THE DISAGREEMENT IS BETWEEN ALLIES. On the night of Aug 25, 2026 two advocacy groups working TOGETHER on the same ordinances published incompatible totals. Climate Revolution Action Network called North Brunswick, East Brunswick and Stafford the 35th, 36th and 37th New Jersey municipalities to ban data centres, and Jackson the 38th the following night. At the East Brunswick meeting the same evening, Food & Water Watch's Charlie Kratovil told the council it was joining MORE THAN 50 other New Jersey communities. Both groups organised these ordinances side by side. The gap is at least fourteen towns. WHAT WOULD EXPLAIN IT is a definitional difference of the kind this map keeps running into -- whether a moratorium counts as a ban, whether a planning-board recommendation counts before the council votes, whether a town where the use was never permitted counts at all -- and neither group publishes its rule. A THIRD COUNT, from electricchoice.com, tracks 225 moratoriums across 30 states and puts Ohio first with 35, then Michigan 34, Georgia 24 and North Carolina 19, which would displace New Jersey from the top spot entirely; but that count is of MORATORIUMS, and New Jersey's claim is about outright BANS, so the two are not measuring the same thing. WE ARE NOT PICKING A NUMBER. This site records that the range runs from roughly 38 to more than 50 depending on who is counting, that no government register exists, and that anyone citing a single figure should say whose rule they are using. THE ROSTER, AS PUBLISHED. CRAN's list of New Jersey municipalities with bans on the books, reported by Patch on Aug 20, 2026, named 33: Andover, Asbury Park, Bayonne, Berkeley Heights, Bernards, Burlington, Cherry Hill, Deerfield, Delanco, East Greenwich, Edgewater Park, Harrison, Holland, Holmdel, Howell, Jersey City, Logan Township, Mansfield, Medford, Millville, Monroe, Montgomery, Neptune, Pemberton, Red Bank, Sayreville, Sparta, Summit, Union, Vernon, Warren, Waterford and Winslow. Adding Stafford, North Brunswick and East Brunswick on Aug 25 gives 36, and Jackson on Aug 26 gives 37 -- while CRAN called Jackson the 38th. One municipality is unaccounted for in the published list, which is a further reason to treat any single figure as approximate. Cinnaminson and South Brunswick had ordinances awaiting second reading. THE STATE HAS NOT FOLLOWED THE TOWNS: in May 2026 Governor Mikie Sherrill announced a plan to REGULATE rather than ban, promising guardrails, transparency, investment in energy infrastructure and job standards, and positioning New Jersey to compete in AI. So the municipal wave and the state policy are pulling in different directions, which is the same split recorded in Michigan and now New York.

Speaking at Florida International University in Miami on Aug 26, 2026, Gov. Ron DeSantis said plate-reader use in the state is out of control and warned against Florida becoming a surveillance state, while saying he backs law-enforcement tools generally. THREE CONCRETE THINGS FOLLOWED THE LANGUAGE: he said he has asked for an overview of how state agencies use the readers, noting state use is small next to city police and sheriffs' offices; he said any statewide restriction would have to come from the Legislature; and he named New Hampshire's approach as a possible model, which bars installing the cameras along public roads while allowing in-vehicle use with rapid purging. He tied it to an AI bill of rights that passed the Florida Senate last session and was not taken up by the House. THE OPPOSING VIEW, STATED: Florida Democratic Party chair Nikki Fried said Republicans have held power for 30 years and let the technology spread without meaningful safeguards, and that the governor now wants credit for sounding the alarm. SCALE, ATTRIBUTED TO WHOEVER COUNTED IT: GovTech reported last year that at least 100 Florida agencies use Flock, and WUFT put the number of readers in the state at nearly 7,500. NOT ESTABLISHED: no bill has been filed and no state agency directive has been issued.

Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, wrote to Flock CEO Garrett Langley on Aug 26, 2026 opening an inquiry into the company's collection, retention and dissemination of camera data, with a Sept 8 deadline to produce documents. Citing Flock's own figures, the letter describes about 120,000 cameras across 49 states and more than 20 billion vehicle scans a month, and argues Congress never authorised such a network, leaving the company's internal policies as the only practical safeguard. WHAT MAKES THIS DIFFERENT FROM A STATEMENT is the specificity of the demands: every confirmed instance of misuse since Jan 1 2021, what a user must enter to justify a search, the restrictions on search purpose, the parameters for statewide and nationwide searches, camera placement, accuracy and security, contracts with local governments, and the company's revenue sources and investors. Flock spokesperson Paris Lewbel said the company had received the letter and would respond. NOT ESTABLISHED: whether the documents will be produced. Axios reported the letter is a request and that a subpoena would be the next step if it is refused; none has been issued. Reporting also notes no bill has been introduced in Congress to ban ALPRs outright. The letter cites St Charles County, Missouri, which is on this map. UPDATE, 14 SEP 2026: THE DEADLINE PASSED ON 8 SEPTEMBER AND NO PUBLIC REPORTING ESTABLISHES WHETHER THE DOCUMENTS WERE PRODUCED. Searching six days after the date returns only coverage from the announcement week. Flock said at the time it would respond; nothing confirms it did, nothing reports a refusal, and no subpoena has been reported. A NON-EVENT IS STILL A FINDING and this map should say so rather than leave the record reading as though the deadline is still ahead. TWO DETAILS ADDED FROM THE SENATOR'S OWN RELEASE, which is now the primary source here rather than the news accounts of it. First, the letter did NOT mention or threaten a subpoena -- reporting noted Hawley COULD seek one, which is not the same thing, and the request was framed as an opportunity to cooperate voluntarily. Second, the letter ties the data question to MONEY: Flock's roughly $8.3 billion valuation creates pressure to monetise what it holds, and Hawley points to uncertainty over how the company or its customers might sell or repurpose driver information. That is a commercial-use concern from a Senate chair, and it is the same argument the Idaho tort claims make about AI training data, arriving from a different direction. The letter also cites a Milwaukee officer alleged to have searched his girlfriend's plate, alongside the St Charles County case already noted here.

Planning Commission public hearing on the code amendments being drafted under the 120-day moratorium: siting limits, reclassification of data centers by function, and design standards. PROVENANCE: from the city's published rulemaking schedule as reported by the Hillsboro News Times; confirm time and venue on the city agenda.

Expert panel hearing on proposed data-center regulations at the Bloomington Planning Commission, listed for Aug 26, 2026 at 5:00 PM. PROVENANCE: relayed by a regulatory tracking digest; confirm against the city's posted agenda before attending.

City Hall Council Chambers, 433 Hay St

The council set an Aug 10 public hearing on a data-centre ordinance amendment after voting 8-2 in June to revive a draft residents believed shelved; the city attorney had told members in April that a moratorium was the only way to pause development. STILL AWAITING OUTCOME: no reporting found on what the council did after the hearing. Surrounding Cumberland County enacted a six-month moratorium to Dec 15.

Citizens Square, Council Chambers, 200 E Berry St

Fort Wayne City Council delayed its vote on the $120,250 Flock license-plate-reader contract by six weeks, to August 25, so members can weigh amendments on data retention, information sharing, and auditing. The measure first failed 5-4 in May before being held. Confirm the agenda and start time on the city portal before attending.

North Brunswick prohibited data centres on Aug 25, 2026, the same night as neighbouring East Brunswick and as Stafford Township on the shore. Residents organised alongside Food & Water Watch New Jersey, The Watershed Institute and Climate Revolution Action Network. CRAN's executive director Ben Dziobek described the mechanism plainly: residents see what other towns have done, talk to each other, and demand the same protection, so each ordinance makes the next one easier. That is a claim about diffusion rather than about any local application -- nothing was pending here. SOURCING NOTE: this record rests on the advocacy release and ROI-NJ's report of it. The ordinance number and vote count have not been read directly and should be confirmed with the township clerk.

East Brunswick banned data centres unanimously on Aug 25, 2026, one of three New Jersey municipalities to act the same night alongside North Brunswick and Stafford Township. NO MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC SPOKE at the ordinance's public hearing -- worth recording because this map's records are usually built from packed rooms and hours of comment, and an unopposed, unattended, unanimous ban is a different political fact: by August 2026 this had stopped being contentious here. Before the vote the council made a clerical correction, changing "primary use" to "principal use" to match the terminology already in the township's land use code, a change made earlier at planning board level. Charlie Kratovil of Food & Water Watch spoke in support during general public comment after the hearing had closed.

The Jackson Township Council voted 4-1 on Aug 25, 2026 to ban data centres by ordinance, before a packed municipal building and after a large turnout. Councilman Chris Pollak drafted Ordinance 2026-25; the township contains part of the Pinelands National Reserve, and residents organising with Climate Revolution Action Network New Jersey pointed to grid strain and clean water. Councilman Nino Borrelli framed it as getting a law on the books BEFORE an application arrives, and noted the wording could later be tightened toward the stronger ordinance neighbouring Howell Township adopted. THE DISSENT IS THE MOST USEFUL PART OF THIS RECORD AND IS NOT A PRO-DATA-CENTRE POSITION. Council President Mordechai Burnstein, who opposes data centres like everyone else on the dais, voted no on the ground that the ordinance WEAKENS the township. Township legal counsel had already advised that data centres are not a permitted use anywhere in Jackson: under Township Code 244-6 any use not specifically permitted is prohibited, and data centres appear in no zone, so an applicant would already need a use variance. Burnstein argued that writing a definition into the code helps applicants and their lawyers rather than residents, citing a 2015 episode in which the township had no definition of dormitories, banned them, and opened what he called a can of worms. NOT ESTABLISHED: which reading is right. No court has tested it. But it is a live legal question under any municipality's land-use scheme, and it is not visible in any count of bans.

REGULATION INSTEAD OF A PAUSE, and the strictest framework this map has recorded. On Aug 25, 2026 the Henry County Board of Supervisors amended the zoning ordinance to create a new Data Center (D-C) District. THE STRUCTURAL POINT COMES FIRST: no property in the county is zoned D-C, and the ordinance rezones nothing. A developer would have to acquire or control land, win a rezoning to D-C, AND THEN obtain a special use permit from the Board of Zoning Appeals -- two separate approvals, each with a public hearing, before anything is built. A moratorium expires; this does not. WHAT THE CONDITIONS ACTUALLY SAY. Setbacks of 1,000 feet from any property not zoned industrial and 500 feet from adjoining industrial land. Operational noise capped at 50 dBA at the exterior property line, plus a separate ban on mechanical equipment producing a clearly audible pure tone at or beyond a residentially zoned boundary -- which addresses the complaint residents actually make, since a transformer hum can sit under a decibel cap and still be intolerable. Applicants must file an acoustical analysis by a third-party engineer modelling worst-case conditions including peak cooling demand and routine generator testing. THE PROVISION WORTH COPYING: post-construction noise testing within 90 days AND ANNUAL TESTING FOR THE LIFE OF THE FACILITY. Most conditions on this map are one-time approvals that become unenforceable the day a plant opens; this one keeps a measurable obligation attached forever. On cooling, only closed-loop systems are permitted -- evaporative cooling and cooling towers are prohibited outright, which is a water decision made at the design stage rather than argued about later. Applicants must also file third-party studies on water supply, groundwater, wastewater, drought and cumulative effects; document electrical capacity; evaluate lower-impact emergency power; and post financial assurance for decommissioning. THE RULES GOT STRICTER BECAUSE OF THE HEARING, which is worth recording precisely because this map more often documents the opposite: after a Jul 28 public hearing the board increased setbacks, tightened noise controls, restricted cooling technology and expanded the water analysis relative to the original recommendation.

Asheville City Council voted 5-2 on Aug 25, 2026 to authorise the city manager to end the Flock Safety contract, and the city's 11 cameras will be removed. The resolution suspends all access, searching and sharing of Flock data immediately, requires existing data to be handled under legal retention rules, and orders a comprehensive review with policy recommendations on the future use, oversight and privacy safeguards of surveillance technology. Mayor Esther Manheimer had proposed ending it a week earlier. TWO THINGS HERE MATTER BEYOND ASHEVILLE. First, the mayor stated plainly why a moratorium was not on the table: the contract does not permit removing the technology unless the city terminates outright. A council that wants to pause and think has no such option -- the only available action is the largest one, which shapes every ALPR debate happening under a similar contract. Second, terminating Flock does not necessarily end plate reading here: the mayor noted that Asheville's existing Axon contract, for police body and dash cameras, ALSO includes stationary licence plate readers. That is the vendor-swap pattern this map already tracks, arriving as a contractual default rather than a decision. Residents spoke on privacy and surveillance, and on what happens to the data, how it is protected and who can reach it. Context from the same reporting: officers in Greer SC, Charlotte NC and Mooresville NC have recently been fired or charged over alleged Flock misuse.

OUTCOME, after four months of delay: Fort Wayne City Council voted UNANIMOUSLY on Aug 25, 2026 not to renew the $120,000 Flock contract covering 36 cameras. The vote was 8-0 with Councilman Scott Myers absent, and drew applause from the gallery. Members of both parties said they had too many concerns to proceed. The path here was a series of refusals to decide: the contract failed 5-4 in May and was tabled, the council voted again on July 14 to hold off pending stronger safeguards, and it finally fell in August -- by which point the contract had ALREADY EXPIRED earlier in the summer. WHY ONE COUNCILLOR VOTED NO IS THE SHARPEST POINT IN THE RECORD. Rohli Booker said cameras had continued going up during the review, including in the preceding weeks, and that a city cannot ask the public to trust a process while expanding the very system under review, nor ask a councillor to extend a contract while deepening reliance on the vendor before the vote is even cast. HOW FORT WAYNE GOT 36 CAMERAS WITHOUT A COUNCIL VOTE: the police department spent $25,200 in July 2024 and $92,995 in 2025 -- each below the $100,000 threshold that requires council approval. The renewal only reached the council because the cumulative figure finally crossed it. This map already records the same pattern in Denver, where an extension came in $1,500 under the threshold that would have forced a vote. AND IT IS NOT OVER. Two days after the vote the police department held a press conference stating its desire to keep using the cameras and that it would determine the appropriate path forward; the 36 cameras were still operating. FWPD says it supports legislation governing how plate readers are used and that it takes a conservative approach to searches. Opposition was bipartisan to an unusual degree: a Democratic candidate for county commissioner and a Republican resident ran a joint email campaign and threatened primary challenges against any member who voted to renew, and Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith publicly urged the council to reject it. Residents are now asking when the cameras come down.

OUTCOME: passed 4-1, reported as the 38th New Jersey municipality to ban data centres by ordinance. The lone no vote came from a council president who opposes data centres but argued the ordinance weakens the township, since uses not specifically permitted are already barred.

OUTCOME: rejected 8-0 on Aug 25, 2026, with one member absent. The $120,000 renewal for 36 cameras had already been tabled in May and deferred again in July. The contract had expired earlier in the summer. Two days later the police department said it wanted to keep using the cameras and would determine a path forward; the cameras were still running. See the Fort Wayne record on the surveillance map.

OUTCOME: the city shut the system down and physically covered the cameras. A resident's open records request revealed that HUNDREDS OF OUTSIDE AGENCIES held unauthorised access to Pflugerville's Flock data -- not a misuse by one officer but a sharing configuration nobody in the city had audited. That is the same failure this map records in San Francisco, Dayton, Springfield and Story County: the data leaves the jurisdiction that collected it, under permissions the council never granted and often could not see. Covering the cameras rather than only disabling the account is unusual and worth noting -- it is the visible, checkable version of a shutdown.

Public hearing on the six-month data-center moratorium, expected at the Aug 25 Town Council meeting -- Maple Hall, 6 p.m., per the Skagit Valley Herald. PROVENANCE: the planning director said the hearing is LIKELY at this meeting; confirm on the town agenda before travelling.

AN EXECUTIVE ORDER IS NOT THE BILL IT REPLACED, and the difference expires. New York's Responsible Data Center Development Act (S10642 Gonzalez / A11560 Barrett) passed both chambers on Jun 4, 2026 in the final hours of the session, with bipartisan support. THE MARGINS ARE REPORTED TWO WAYS AND WE DO NOT RESOLVE THEM: the Harris Beach Murtha analysis gives Senate 44-16 and Assembly 102-39, while the Programs.com moratorium tracker gives 43-17 and 103-38 -- one vote different in each chamber. The official roll call on nysenate.gov and nyassembly.gov is the way to settle it. Governor Hochul did not sign it. On Jul 14 she issued Executive Order 62 instead, which this map already records as the first statewide data-centre moratorium in the country. WHAT THE EO DOES NOT DO is the point. The order pauses state permitting for a year and directs the Department of Public Service to study impacts. The bill would have added a new Article 31 to the Environmental Conservation Law and amended the Public Service, Public Authorities, Energy and Labor Laws to create PERMANENT structure: a separate classification of utility service for large data centres, so their power and water costs are not spread across households and small businesses; a public participation process; host community benefits; renewable energy and energy efficiency requirements; and labour standards. The moratorium in the bill covers facilities drawing more than 20 MW. An order pauses; a statute sets the terms that apply when the pause ends -- and the order ends in July 2027 with nothing behind it. THE DEADLINE IS REAL AND NEAR: if the governor neither signs the bill nor proposes amendments by the END OF 2026, it is effectively vetoed and the work restarts in a new session. THE PRESSURE IS UNUSUALLY WELL DOCUMENTED. Sixty members of the Assembly and Senate signed a letter on Aug 24 urging her to sign; Assemblymember Didi Barrett and Senator Michelle Hinchey wrote separately on Aug 20; Senator Gonzalez toured 13 sites with active or proposed data centres between Aug 22 and Aug 30; Rockland County became the first county to pass a resolution backing the bill, and Albany's Common Council voted 12-0 for one, already recorded here. Tompkins County legislators went furthest, replying to a fundraising request from the governor's campaign that they could not be counted on unless she signed before Nov 3. THE OPPOSING CASE, stated: opponents argue a statewide moratorium discourages investment and sends projects and jobs to other states. A DISCREPANCY WE HAVE NOT RESOLVED: our existing record for the executive order cites the bill as AB 10141 / SB 9144, while the reporting used here consistently gives S10642 / A11560 for the Act passed Jun 4. Both may refer to different vehicles in the same session; we have not established which is correct and are not overwriting the earlier note on the strength of a guess.

THE STATE SPLITS ALONG A LINE THAT IS NOT THE OBVIOUS ONE. Arkansas has produced more data-centre pauses than almost any state its size, and they are concentrated in rural, Republican-leaning counties with NO PROJECT PENDING: Independence County five years to 2031, Madison County three years, Union and Carroll counties a year each, Russellville six months. Meanwhile the two jurisdictions ACTUALLY FACING large proposed projects -- Little Rock and Pulaski County -- have repeatedly failed to pause anything since May. Pulaski's 12-month moratorium was voted down 10-3 on Jul 28, 2026, after a June passage was voided when the clerk found the emergency-ordinance vote had been miscounted. WHAT THE PATTERN SUGGESTS, stated as a question rather than a conclusion: a pause is easiest to pass where nothing is at stake and hardest where something is. That is the inverse of how these maps are usually read, and it cuts against treating a moratorium count as a measure of resistance -- five years of protection in a county with no proposal is not the same civic achievement as a six-month pause won against an active applicant. The Arkansas Advocate made a related observation from the other end: the number of communities limiting data centres is growing FASTER than the list of places publicly considering projects. THE LEGAL FOOTING under all of it is one document -- Attorney General Tim Griffin's opinion of Sept 25, 2025 that Arkansas counties have authority to enact moratoriums on commercial ventures. NOT ESTABLISHED: whether the rural pauses would survive a developer challenge, since none has been tested. Independence County's own trigger suggests why they were written broadly anyway -- the county had banned wind turbines in 2025 and then discovered a company already held dozens of contracts predating the ban.

Stafford Township adopted Ordinance 2026-22 on Aug 24, 2026, the first ban in Ocean County. It supplements Section 212-4.1 of the township code, headed Additional Prohibited Uses, and the operative line is one sentence: all data centres are prohibited from operating anywhere in the township. The ordinance defines a data centre as a facility used to store and manage digital data -- a broad definition, which cuts both ways, since breadth is what makes a ban hard to route around and also what makes it vulnerable to the argument that it sweeps in ordinary server rooms. A resident told the council she hoped it would set a precedent among other shore towns; one Ocean County town, Jackson, followed the next night. NOTE THE DRAFTING ROUTE, because it differs from the objection raised in Jackson: Stafford added data centres to an EXISTING list of prohibited uses rather than writing a new definitional section, which is the narrower move.

The King William County sheriff's department cancelled its Flock contract after the cameras were VANDALISED AND STOLEN. Grafton, Massachusetts gave the same reason alongside community concern in the same week. This map records prosecutions for camera destruction in Virginia and a wave of vandalism in Indiana that drew widely sympathetic public comment; these two cancellations are the other end of that story -- destruction of the devices contributing to a department's decision to stop, rather than to a prosecution. Recorded without endorsement: the cancellations are the fact, and the vandalism is a crime that other records here document being charged.

OUTCOME: no council vote was needed. Police Chief Matthew Hicks withdrew the $88,400 request for five additional cameras himself, switched off the Nationwide Lookup Tool, and proposed amending the contract to stop Flock using captured images as AI training data. A tort claim over the training-data question was filed against the city on Jul 27 by the chair of DeFlock Idaho.

The Cloverleaf developer's water and wastewater study is due ahead of the council's Aug 24, 2026 meeting -- the follow-on to the Jul 28 session already on this calendar. PROVENANCE: relayed by a regulatory tracking digest; time and agenda item unconfirmed -- check the city's posting.

Flock Safety's CEO is set to attend the Knox County Commission meeting on Aug 24, 2026, per WBIR Knoxville -- a rare chance to put questions to the company's top executive in a public forum while the county weighs its camera program. PROVENANCE: date and attendance from WBIR's report; meeting time and venue not confirmed here -- check the Knox County Commission agenda before travelling.

Six fired, four arrested, and the department is only now writing a policy. The Savannah Police Department opened an internal investigation on Jul 27, 2026 after its own proactive review found Flock searches that appeared unrelated to law enforcement, asked the GBI to take it over two days later, and fired SIX employees -- four sworn officers and two civilians -- on Aug 7. On Aug 21 the GBI arrested FOUR of the six: former corporal Marquis Dillard, 48, a 13-year and 10-year veteran pair with former corporal Matthew Rich, 39, former officer Donald Phillips, 23, and Calandic Thomas, 34, a community service specialist. Each is charged with misuse of a license plate reader system; the three sworn officers also face violation of oath of office. They are accused of running searches on family members and personal acquaintances. THE DETAIL THAT REACHES BEYOND SAVANNAH: one officer is alleged to have given an OUTSIDE LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY unauthorised access to Savannah's Flock system, and the GBI has confirmed a SECOND investigation into that agency while declining to name it. The shared-access problem this map records as a policy failure elsewhere is here a criminal matter with a second agency attached. TWO THINGS ARE NOT ESTABLISHED and the reporting says so: whether the two fired but unarrested employees face charges, and whose vehicles were searched or what was done with the results. THE GOVERNANCE FINDING: Chief Lenny Gunther said he is working to add a formal policy governing Flock use -- meaning a department running 106 cameras in a state with the second-most Flock cameras in the country did not have one. The GBI case goes to the Eastern Judicial Circuit District Attorney. This is the third Georgia entry in this wave, after the Cherokee County deputies and the Ogeechee Circuit DA investigator. THE AUDIT'S OWN NUMBERS, which arrived after this record was first written: of roughly 39,000 Flock searches the department ran in 2026 to the date of the audit, 127 were flagged for review and 34 were determined to be unjustified. That is about one search in eleven hundred -- a small share, and the one that matters, because it is the share that reached the GBI and produced six firings and four arrests. As of 14 September 2026 the outside agency under the second investigation has still not been named.

The largest ALPR misuse prosecution this map has recorded. A grand jury in the 159th Judicial District Court indicted Lufkin police officer Zachary Anthony Klein on Aug 21, 2026 on 100 counts of misuse of official information, each a third-degree felony, with bond set at $500,000. The 31-page indictment alleges he used his police access to locate vehicles belonging to 11 people from July 2024 through December 2025. THE SCALE IS DISPUTED BETWEEN SOURCES AND THE DIFFERENCE IS LARGE: the Lufkin Daily News, reporting from the indictment, describes searches on dozens of occasions; the Institute for Justice's database records that Klein allegedly searched for his ex-girlfriend and people she knew MORE THAN 10,000 TIMES. Both are recorded here rather than one being chosen, because the indictment charges 100 counts and a count is not the same as a search -- 10,000 searches yielding 100 charges is entirely consistent, and readers should know the count is a charging decision, not a measurement. Klein, an 11-year member of the department, was arrested the previous morning by Texas Rangers. TWO THINGS MAKE THIS DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHER MISUSE CASES HERE. First, it ran undetected from mid-2024 until the department happened to audit. Second, the response -- Chief Travis Brazil suspended the department's use of Flock entirely rather than disciplining an individual and carrying on, and asked the Texas Rangers to investigate from outside. A second officer was placed on administrative leave and has not been named. Mayor Mark Hicks said the allegations were serious, backed both investigations, and cautioned against reaching conclusions before the facts are known. Lufkin approved Flock in 2023.

Hopkinton ended its Flock contract in August 2026 after a legal review found the agreement VIOLATED STATE PROCUREMENT LAW. The town is one of a handful on this map to exit on procurement grounds rather than privacy ones -- Auburn, Massachusetts cancelled the same month citing a contractual defect, and Knox County, Tennessee declared its contract invalid. That route matters because it does not require winning the privacy argument: a contract that was never lawfully formed can be undone without persuading anyone that plate readers are bad. The announcement came hours after Lynn police disclosed that an internal audit had found a concerning pattern in some searches, placing two officers on leave.

The Pulaski County Sheriff's Department announced in the week of Aug 20, 2026 that it would stop using Flock cameras -- but it is CONTINUING TO USE PLATE READERS FROM A DIFFERENT VENDOR, which Sheriff Frisz said are better quality and offer more checks and balances. Recorded as a switch rather than a removal for that reason: the county has not stopped reading plates, it has changed whose cameras read them, and counting it among the cancellations would overstate the retreat. Frisz defended the technology itself, saying the department makes 30 to 50 felony arrests a year on average through plate readers and has taken homicide suspects into custody within 24 hours. The announcement came alongside St Charles County police ceasing Flock use after a civilian employee's alleged egregious misuse, and amid criticism in Missouri that the data could be used to target immigrants. DeFlock has mapped more than 1,000 plate-reader cameras across the St Louis area.

Grafton police began deactivating all 12 Flock cameras on Aug 21, 2026, ABOUT ONE MONTH AFTER ANNOUNCING THEIR INSTALLATION -- the shortest deployment this map records. Chief Neil A. Minardi cited growing concerns about the technology in the community and, separately, vandalism and theft involving the devices. When the cameras went in, officials had tried to reassure residents that they did not use facial recognition and that every use had to be tied to a legitimate law enforcement purpose; that framing did not hold for a month. Neighbouring East Bridgewater announced the same day that it would end its contract and remove the single camera it had installed of four planned, with Chief Michael Jenkins having already paused the project for public discussion before it became fully operational. More than a dozen Massachusetts municipalities have suspended or terminated Flock in recent months, and the day before, Hopkinton ended its contract after a legal review found the agreement violated state procurement law -- hours after Lynn police disclosed that an internal audit had found a concerning pattern in some searches and placed two officers on leave.

OUTCOME: the GBI arrested four of six employees the Savannah Police Department had fired on Aug 7 for accessing the Flock system for non-law-enforcement purposes. A second GBI investigation into an outside agency that allegedly received unauthorised access is active and the agency has not been named.

THREE NEW JERSEY TOWNS ARE NOW BEING SUED OVER THEIR BANS, not one. The New Jersey Monitor reported that developers have sued MONTGOMERY, ANDOVER and MONROE seeking to overturn municipal prohibitions on data centres. The Monroe case is the one with a number attached -- Hexa Builders is seeking $300 million -- and is recorded separately here. THE ARGUMENT THE DEVELOPERS ARE MAKING IS THE part worth recording, because it will be made everywhere: the suit against Montgomery's ordinance contends the township committee acted on "public hysteria" and political attention rather than sound land use planning. That is a claim about PROCESS, not about data centres -- it says a ban passed under public pressure is not a planning decision and should not survive review. Every one of the roughly 38 New Jersey ordinances was passed under exactly that kind of pressure, and most were passed with no application pending, which is the fact the argument is designed to exploit. WHAT IS NOT ESTABLISHED: none of the three has been decided. If any succeeds, the reasoning would reach far past New Jersey, and it would land hardest on the towns that acted earliest and with the least record of planning analysis behind them. This is the same mechanism recorded in Illinois, where a county attorney's warning that a moratorium invited suit killed the moratorium before a vote -- here the towns acted first and the litigation followed.

A LOSS, recorded in full because this map has been carrying too few of them. The Salix City Council voted 3-2 on Aug 20, 2026 against a one-year data-center moratorium, clearing the way for MidAmerican Energy and Google to keep exploring a project on roughly 900 acres the town annexed in April. In JULY the same council had voted 3-2 the other way, instructing attorneys to draft the ordinance -- so this was a reversal, not a rejection of something new. THE SWING VOTE'S REASONING DESERVES TO BE READ RATHER THAN DISMISSED. Mayor Pro Tem Denise Burkhart supported the moratorium in July and changed her position after Google was publicly identified as the prospective customer in early August. Her argument was that the resolution would have barred the city from communicating with Google for a year, and that residents' unanswered questions about water and energy use are precisely what those conversations would answer. Supporters were not asking to reject the project, only to pause it. Two theories of caution, and one prevailed by a single vote. THE MEETING ITSELF IS PART OF THE RECORD. It came more than a week late: officials postponed the Aug 12 session after death and terroristic threats were posted on social media. The Salix Guardian Alliance, which opposes the development, condemned the threats and said one individual's actions had halted the process for everyone. After the vote tensions flared, Mayor Kevin Nelson called for officers, and council member Gene Monk and others were visibly upset. No one was arrested. WHAT IS STILL UNSETTLED: Woodbury County is challenging the annexation in court, alleging Salix failed to properly notify property owners and took in land that did not border city limits. The county already has its own one-year moratorium covering unincorporated areas. And the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, which owns land a few miles away, passed a resolution opposing hyperscale data centers on or near its reservation; tribal council member Keely Bassette Purscell told the Salix council that decisions made inside its city limits carry beyond them. Google's Trent Fellers told the council the company is in early planning with water and energy use not yet finalised. Rezoning, the annexation suit and those specifics all remain ahead -- just without the cool-down residents asked for.

MOST OF THESE CAMERAS WERE NEVER VOTED ON, AND THAT IS MEASURABLE. The Who Approved This public-records project holds 305 Flock contracts and finds that 158 OF THEM -- THE LARGEST SINGLE GROUP IN THE FILE -- carry an approval method of UNKNOWN, meaning no public document anyone has obtained states how the contract was approved. Only 27 records carry a vote stored name by name. This map records the fights; the fights are the exception. HERE ARE THE ROUTES, each documented on this map. THE PROCUREMENT THRESHOLD. Cottonwood, Arizona had four readers by 2021 and eleven by 2025 without a single council vote, because the cost sat inside the police department's budget below the level at which councils decide. The programme only reached the council when a package hit $199,000 -- and that one included two drones. Procurement thresholds, not privacy policy, decided what got debated. THE THRESHOLD USED DELIBERATELY. Denver's council REJECTED a $666,000 Flock renewal. The city then signed a $498,500 extension -- $1,500 under the amount that would have required a council vote. The council said no and the cameras stayed. THE CONSENT AGENDA. Broken Arrow, Oklahoma approved its contract as item K on a consent agenda, file 23-1170: a block of items passed together without separate discussion. It is a recorded council approval with no debate attached. NO MEETING AT ALL. In Wilder and Greenleaf, Idaho, cameras went up with no public meeting and no council vote; in Wilder the police chief and the mayor approved them between them. NO CONTRACT TO VOTE ON. Avondale, Arizona reaches 192 Home Depot cameras and four from an HOA with no memorandum of understanding and no contract at all -- the department requests access and the owner grants it. There is nothing for a council to approve or refuse. AND THE EXIT HAS THE SAME PROBLEM. Sierra Vista, Arizona ended its contract by council CONSENSUS rather than a numeric vote, so no roll call exists and nobody is on record as having been for it. Asheville's mayor found the contract barred removing the cameras without terminating the whole agreement, so a moratorium was not available as an option. WHY IT MATTERS FOR EVERY COUNT INCLUDING OURS: a map built from reported decisions sees the places where a decision happened. The 158 unknowns are not places without cameras -- they are places where the public record does not say who said yes. WHAT WOULD SETTLE IT is not a search. It is asking a department, in writing, which agenda item authorised its ALPR programme and on what date, and publishing the answer or the absence of one.

EVERY FLOCK CONTRACT HAS AN END DATE, AND ALMOST NOBODY KNOWS THEIRS. Flock sells on subscription -- typically two to five years, at roughly $2,500 to $3,000 per camera per year on published cooperative price lists. That means the decision point is not the day cameras go up but RENEWAL DAY, which arrives on a schedule nobody publicises. THE MEASURE OF HOW HIDDEN IT IS comes from the Who Approved This public-records project, which tracks 305 contracts across 46 states and $83.1 million in documented spending: only FIFTEEN of those 305 records carry a future end date, and two more a scheduled vote. For the overwhelming majority of communities on that tracker, the contract's expiry is simply not on any public record anyone has found. A cancellation campaign that does not know its own deadline is arguing on the vendor's timetable. WHAT ELSE THE RECORD SHOWS ABOUT HOW THESE ARRIVE: 158 of the 305 records carry an approval method of UNKNOWN -- the largest single group in the file -- and only 27 carry a vote stored name by name. Just 47 records carry both a dollar figure and a camera count, which is why per-camera costs are so rarely checkable. AND THE THRESHOLD TRICK IS DOCUMENTED: after Denver's council rejected a $666,000 Flock renewal, the city signed a $498,500 extension -- $1,500 under the amount that would have required a council vote. THE PROJECT IS EXPLICIT ABOUT WHAT IT LEAVES OUT, which is why it is usable: privately owned Flock cameras bought by homeowner associations and businesses are not contracts any public body approved, so they are absent even where police can search them, and agencies whose documents have not been obtained are absent too -- so the real national total runs above 305. Empty fields are left empty rather than estimated. THAT IS THE SAME DISCIPLINE THIS MAP APPLIES, and it makes the tracker a usable source rather than another tally to reconcile. ITS OWN COUNT OF ENDINGS -- 97 documented, 83 cancelled, expired, rejected or suspended -- is a THIRD figure alongside DeFlock's and the Institute for Justice's, and the site says plainly it counts contract trails rather than jurisdictions, which is why the numbers differ.

THE CAMERA WAS NOT WRONG. THE INVESTIGATION STOPPED. On Oct 4, 2025 a car travelling over 100mph swerved across lanes in Sanford, Florida, hit a motorcycle and a Ford Focus, caused a pileup and fled. Three people died at the scene. Witnesses described a speeding Dodge Durango; the Florida Highway Patrol used Flock data on a Durango seen nearby to arrest Lindsey Isaacs, 23. She was charged with EIGHT FELONY COUNTS and spent 13 days in jail. FOUR PIECES OF PHYSICAL EVIDENCE CONTRADICTED THE ARREST AND WERE AVAILABLE THE WHOLE TIME. When crash investigators later took the case over they found her car was not damaged, though troopers had reported that it was; the paint colour did not match paint left on another vehicle; the driver airbag had never deployed, though witnesses said the airbag in the car involved had; and a partial plate reported by a 911 caller did not match her tag. Prosecutors dropped the charges in May 2026 after investigators arrested Alisa Lee Montalvo, whose Durango had damage consistent with the crash and matched the partial plate. Montalvo faces felony charges and has not been convicted. A Volusia County assistant state attorney who had misgivings about the case is credited with pushing for the detailed investigation that unwound it. THE SUIT: Isaacs is suing the Highway Patrol and Sgts Tiffany Jateff and Joshua Buday, alleging they insisted her impounded vehicle showed crash damage when photographs showed otherwise. She was publicly named as a criminal defendant and was sued by relatives of the people who died. WHY THIS RECORD IS ABOUT PLATE READERS EVEN THOUGH THE READER READ CORRECTLY: a Flock hit is a lead, and here it functioned as a conclusion. The technology produced a name fast enough that the ordinary work of testing it against the physical evidence did not happen for seven months. Every accuracy statistic on this map measures whether the camera read the plate; this case measures what a correct read is allowed to substitute for.

Hood County commissioners terminated the county's agreement and PHYSICALLY COVERED ITS THREE CAMERAS after residents raised concerns. Covering rather than only disabling recurs on this map -- Pflugerville, Bolivar, Dickinson County and Springfield Oregon all did it. It is the visible, checkable version of a shutdown: a resident can confirm a covered camera from the street, and cannot confirm a disabled account.

Lindsey Isaacs, jailed 13 days on eight felony counts after a Flock-led arrest that physical evidence contradicted, is suing the Florida Highway Patrol and two sergeants. Charges against her were dropped in May 2026. AWAITING OUTCOME: the suit has not been decided. STILL PENDING AS OF 14 SEP 2026. Civil suits run for years; this entry should be read as a filing date rather than a decision awaited on any near timetable.

City Hall, 200 N Walker Ave, council chambers

OUTCOME: renewed 5-3 on Aug 18, 2026, and the chamber erupted in boos. After four deferrals since July 7, Oklahoma City Council approved a $270,000 one-year renewal with Flock Safety, retroactive to Jul 1 and running to Jun 30, 2027 -- the third renewal since 2023. Cooper (Ward 2), Hamon (Ward 6) and Pennington (Ward 7) voted no; Ward 8's Mark Stonecipher was absent; Mayor David Holt voted yes. Of the dozens who signed up for public comment, not one spoke in favour. WHAT CHANGED, and it is the reason this is not a simple loss: for the first time the council attached a detailed amendment imposing regulation and oversight on the vendor, including limits on federal data sharing. Campaigners had asked for three things -- do not renew, remove the cameras, do not sign another ALPR vendor -- and got none of them, but the contract that passed is not the contract that was tabled in July. TWO FACTS THE COUNCIL DID NOT RESOLVE. The agreement covers 90 cameras while DeFlock OKC's crowdsourced map counts 299 across the metro, a gap the city has not explained; that figure is the campaign's own count, not an audited one. And a records request by resident Jarrett Freeman established in writing that OKCPD publishes no internal use or transparency reporting on Flock at all, which is what drew several council members into the issue in the first place. Police Chief Ron Bacy told the council the cameras cover a 620-square-mile area and help solve crimes; opponents asked how those same cases were solved before 2023. An ACLU of Oklahoma petition carried more than 2,200 signatures. One year on, it returns.

Howell Township's all-Republican council voted UNANIMOUSLY on Aug 18, 2026 for an ordinance that, in its own words, RECONFIRMS data centres as a prohibited use under the township's existing zoning rules -- introduced Jul 14, after the township had already adopted a moratorium by unanimous vote the previous December. THAT WORDING IS THE POINT, and it answers the objection raised in Jackson. Jackson's council president voted against a ban there arguing that writing a new definition into the code helps applicants' lawyers, because uses not specifically permitted are already prohibited. Howell drafted around exactly that risk: rather than creating a new prohibition it declares an existing one, which leaves nothing new for a developer to argue was absent before. Two neighbouring Monmouth-area townships took opposite drafting views of the same legal question within a week of each other. Resident Joe Bizonos of Howell Connections framed it as being proactive in a farm town with natural resources to protect; residents organised with Climate Revolution Action Network. Mayor John Leggio and the council backed it.

Winnebago County adopted a 12-month moratorium on data centers covering four townships, passed in a voice vote at the Aug 18, 2026 county board meeting with little resistance. District 24 Supervisor Andy Buck appeared to be the lone dissenter; he had said in June he would not support it, then returned with a failed amendment to cut the pause from twelve months to six. The county sits beside Oshkosh, whose Plan Commission recommended its own one-year moratorium a week later, and roughly 100 miles from Port Washington, where Vantage is building an AI campus for OpenAI and Oracle -- the proximity is the point, and it is why several Wisconsin governments moved within weeks of each other.

Fort Mitchell's council voted to cancel over FOURTH AMENDMENT concerns, naming the constitutional question directly rather than privacy in general. Kentucky now holds five cancellations: Fort Mitchell, Independence, Cynthiana, Newport and Hartford, the last two both stopping before deployment. The framing connects to the litigation this map tracks -- the Institute for Justice has federal suits pending against Norfolk and San Jose arguing warrantless ALPR surveillance is unconstitutional, and no court has settled it.

Stow's police chief announced the cancellation of the town's Flock contract following MISUSE BY AN OFFICER OF THE SAME DEPARTMENT. The underlying case is one of the most serious on this map: officer Jason Rogers was placed on unpaid leave and a criminal complaint filed after he allegedly used Flock and other databases to stalk a former partner WHO HAD CHANGED HER IDENTITY TO ESCAPE HIS ABUSE. She discovered the stalking through the HaveIBeenFlocked website rather than through any departmental oversight. The town's response was to end the programme rather than only the employment -- the same choice Lufkin and Chandler made in the same month.

A three-year moratorium passed unanimously in mid-August 2026, the second-longest in Arkansas after Independence County's five years, and like it adopted with NO KNOWN PROJECT in development. The Arkansas Advocate's framing is worth keeping because it inverts the usual assumption about where pushback comes from: the number of Arkansas communities limiting data centres is growing FASTER than the list of places publicly considering projects. Communities here are acting on what they have seen happen elsewhere rather than on a proposal in front of them. First reported by the Madison County Record.

THE LONGEST A JOURNALIST HAS BEEN HELD IN US CUSTODY, and he was shot by the agency holding him. Carlitos Ricardo Parias, 45, reports independently as Richard Noticias LA to more than 100,000 TikTok followers, covering crime and immigration raids in working-class Los Angeles neighbourhoods. He crossed 300 DAYS in ICE detention at the Adelanto Processing Center on Aug 17, 2026. TWO ENCOUNTERS, FOUR MONTHS APART. On Jun 13, 2025 he was filming an immigration raid in South LA when, according to witnesses, a federal agent struck him with a vehicle; he was handcuffed and left on a pavement without medical attention, and a passer-by eventually drove him to hospital. In October 2025 unmarked federal vehicles boxed in his car near downtown LA, masked agents smashed his window, and one of them shot him in the arm. A US marshal was hit in the same operation. THE GOVERNMENT'S ACCOUNT, in full: prosecutors said Parias was subject to an administrative immigration arrest warrant, had evaded capture before, and drove forward and backward striking two law enforcement vehicles when ordered out of his car. HOW THAT ENDED IS THE PART THAT MATTERS: a federal judge dismissed the criminal case WITH PREJUDICE over violations of his constitutional rights. He had been granted bond, and on leaving US Marshals custody in November 2025 he was transferred directly into ICE detention, where he remains while immigration proceedings continue. So the criminal case that justified the arrest is gone and the detention it produced is not. HIS ATTORNEYS SAY HE HAS BEEN DENIED adequate treatment for the gunshot wound, including pain medication and physical therapy; a sitting member of Congress has said the arm is close to being lost. CPJ Americas director Jose Zamora called on ICE to ensure he receives care, noting that a journalist's immigration status does not bear on entitlement to medical treatment. He has kept reporting from inside, through clips recorded by visitors, documenting conditions at Adelanto including worms photographed in the drinking water in August 2026. The Los Angeles City Council had honoured his community reporting with a proclamation in 2025. AWAITING OUTCOME: the deportation proceedings.

Reported as the longest any journalist has been held in US custody. The criminal case against him was dismissed with prejudice over constitutional violations; he remains in immigration detention at Adelanto. AWAITING OUTCOME: the deportation proceedings. STILL OPEN AS OF 14 SEP 2026: this was a day-count milestone, not an event that resolves. If he remains in detention the figure is now past 320 days. NOT ESTABLISHED: his current status -- that needs checking, not assuming.

NO CONTRACT MEANS NO RECORD, AND NO RECORD MEANS NO COUNT. Every tracker of Flock deployments -- the Institute for Justice's, DeFlock's, Who Approved This, and this map -- counts contracts a public body approved. Avondale, Arizona shows what that structurally cannot see. Asked how its police reach privately owned cameras, the department said plainly that THERE ARE NO MEMORANDA OF UNDERSTANDING AND NO CONTRACTS governing the sharing of Flock data from the Roosevelt Park HOA or from Home Depot: the department submits a request for access and the private owner either grants it or does not. Access by request and grant leaves no agenda item, no vote, no dollar figure and no renewal date. It cannot appear in a contract tracker because there is no contract. THE NUMBERS IN ONE MID-SIZED CITY: four cameras from one HOA, and 192 FROM HOME DEPOT. A single retailer supplied roughly forty-eight times as many cameras as the neighbourhood association, to a department whose own council debates its public contract. Avondale says its internal policies govern officers' use of that data the same way they govern its own ALPR data -- which is the department's answer, and it is a policy commitment rather than a contractual one, because there is nothing to breach. AND THE ACCESS TREE RUNS FURTHER THAN THE CITY. As of Aug 16, 2026 Avondale appeared alongside SIXTY-ONE other law enforcement agencies and organisations granted access to University of Arizona CAMPUS POLICE Flock data, among them the Arizona Department of Public Safety and Northern Arizona University campus police. A camera on a university campus, reachable by 62 named parties, none of whom the university's students voted for. HOW BIG THE GAP MIGHT BE, attributed: Flock says it operates in more than 5,000 communities across 49 states and performs over 20 billion vehicle scans a month, and it markets directly to homeowner associations, places of worship, retail, healthcare, property management, banking, logistics and manufacturing. DeFlock ILM counts more than 200 HOAs signed up, and notes that an HOA which integrates with law enforcement turns its private street into a node any participating agency can query -- local, out-of-state or federal. THE HONEST POSITION IS THAT NOBODY KNOWS THE DENOMINATOR, INCLUDING US. Who Approved This says so explicitly, excluding private cameras because no public body approved them EVEN WHERE POLICE CAN SEARCH THEM. This map has the same hole, and holds only two records on private integration. A resident who cancels their city's contract has not necessarily removed a single camera from their street.

A coordinated week of local organizing against automated license-plate readers, Aug 16-22, with actions planned in 75+ cities across the U.S. and Canada -- public-comment turnouts, camera-mapping drives, and council petitions. Find or start a local action through the DeFlock hub.

OUTCOME: the Conseil constitutionnel blocked the ban, holding it disproportionately infringed freedom of expression AND that barring under-15s inherently requires every adult to prove age without safeguards for private life. The first court loss for the new wave of under-age bans. Macron has asked for a rewrite targeting spring 2027.

Chandler City Hall, Council Chambers, 88 E Chicago St

OUTCOME: the contract was cancelled. A Chandler police department employee misused Flock data, and the city ended its contract with the company as a result. TIMING CAVEAT, stated rather than smoothed over: the Institute for Justice records the misuse and the cancellation as August 2026 but does not tie the cancellation to this specific Aug 13 council date, so the vote and the cancellation are recorded as the same episode without asserting they were the same meeting. Chandler joins Lufkin as the second department this month to respond to one employee's misuse by ending the programme rather than the employment.

TWO THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED UNAUTHORISED SEARCHES IN A YEAR, AND THE AUDIT TOOL FOUND THEM IN ONE DAY. An internal Flock audit at the Colleton County Sheriff's Office found that a lieutenant, Ruben Carter, had used the plate-reader system without authorisation more than 2,700 times over one year, searching himself, friends, other deputies and former associates. He was fired and Sheriff Guerry Hill Jr. asked the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division to investigate. THE TIMELINE IS THE RECORD. The sheriff assigned his Office of Professional Responsibility to audit the system on 11 August 2026, switched on Flock's audit-assistance tool on 12 August, and Carter's searches were flagged THE NEXT DAY. Two thousand seven hundred searches sat undetected for a year and surfaced within twenty-four hours of someone turning the audit on. Nothing about the searches changed; what changed was whether anyone was looking. That is the strongest evidence on this map for a claim the misuse records keep circling: the detection rate measures the auditing, not the misuse. WHAT THE COUNTY DID NEXT: it revoked deputies' individual access to the system entirely, and now requires CASE-SPECIFIC APPROVAL from the sheriff or chief deputy for each search -- the most restrictive access model recorded here for a department that kept its cameras. SCALE BEHIND IT, attributed: a Cato Institute analysis puts South Carolina's plate-reader database at nearly 150 million scans a year, 99.8 per cent of them with no connection to any criminal activity. South Carolina Senate Bill 447 would create the state's first statutory framework for the technology. NOT ESTABLISHED: whether SLED brings charges.

The Institute for Justice's database of ALPR abuse lists 181 documented incidents across 33 states, each with its own source, sorted into four kinds: stalking, error, non-law-enforcement use, and other misuse. It is the most comprehensive public list that exists, and IJ says plainly it may be the tip of the iceberg. THE REASON WHY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FINDING ON THIS PAGE. In IJ's litigation against Norfolk, Virginia, the three most common search justifications -- cj, stolen, and inv -- accounted for nearly a third of 230,000 searches over two years. One officer repeatedly typed la la la la as his reason, and nobody noticed. Officers rarely record a specific reason, the volume is far too large to audit by hand, and so the searches that were improper are indistinguishable from the ones that were not. Every count on this map is therefore a floor. WHAT THE 181 SHOW WHEN READ TOGETHER: the stalking cases overwhelmingly involve current or former partners, and several ran for years -- a Haines City officer searched his estranged wife more than 700 times over 22 months, a Jefferson Parish deputy searched his ex-fiancee's plate thousands of times, a Katy officer more than 2,000 times in 11 months. The error cases end the same way over and over: guns drawn on people who did nothing, including grandparents detained while a three-year-old watched from the car after a camera read an O as a 0. And in Roseville, California, Flock sent 1,427 alerts over two years flagging cars as stolen or used in a felony, and 71 PERCENT of them were misreads. Detection is the variable, not conduct: a great many of these surfaced only through an internal audit, a reporter's query, or a victim checking HaveIBeenFlocked. Departments that do not audit do not find them.

Junction City City Hall, 680 Greenwood St

Junction City's council will continue weighing a 90-day free trial of eight Flock cameras at an August meeting, after hearing from Flock and from residents opposed to it; Eugene, Springfield and Lane County have all cut ties with Flock. The exact August date is not yet confirmed -- check the Junction City agenda before attending.

Fort Worth City Council voted unanimously on Aug 11, 2026 to take the first step toward a 90-day moratorium on data-center construction, one of three data-center votes that evening, with residents packing the chamber and most speaking for a pause. The moratorium halts decisions on rezoning applications and permits for data centers and would take effect by early next year, giving the city time to weigh development rules and effects on natural resources. Council member Elizabeth Beck told attendees the city wanted to work with them rather than against them. NOTE THE SHAPE, because it is easy to over-read: this is a first move, not a moratorium in force, and 90 days is short beside the 12-to-24-month pauses elsewhere on this map.

City-County Building, 200 E Washington St

OUTCOME: duplicate. This entry and indianapolis-datacenter-council-2026-08-10 both covered the Aug 10, 2026 Marion County moratorium vote, written from separate leads before the outcome was known. The council record carries the account; this one is kept as a pointer rather than deleted, because either id may already have been shared or cited.

City Hall Council Chambers, 433 Hay St

Public hearing on a proposed data-center amendment to the city's Unified Development Ordinance. Council voted 8-2 on Jun 8 to schedule it, over months of public pressure for a moratorium instead and a packed, repeatedly disrupted chamber. Residents believed the draft had been sent back for redrafting; it had not. The Planning Commission had reviewed it at two 2025-26 meetings with public hearings that drew, in total, one speaker. Surrounding Cumberland County enacted its own six-month moratorium on Jun 15, but it has no effect inside the Fayetteville city limit. The city's separate moratorium discussion was postponed in April to Aug 25. No data-center project has been formally proposed in Fayetteville. Six councilmembers toured data centers on Jun 30 without notifying the public.

A FIVE-YEAR pause, unanimous, with no project proposed -- the longest in Arkansas. The Independence County Quorum Court passed the ordinance on Aug 10, 2026, running to Aug 31, 2031. WHY A COUNTY WITH NOTHING PENDING ACTED, and it is a mechanism this map should carry: Justice of the Peace Brad Covington, a Republican, said a wind-turbine development 'absolutely' contributed. The county had passed a three-year turbine ban in October 2025 and then learned about two months before this vote that a company already held dozens of turbine contracts predating the ban. What alarmed the court was not the technology but discovering that nothing required companies to come before local authorities at all. County Judge Kevin Jeffery framed it as buying breathing room while the questions outrun the answers. Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin had issued an opinion on Sept 25, 2025 that counties have authority to enact moratoriums on commercial ventures, which is the legal footing these Arkansas pauses stand on. THE CONTRAST INSIDE THE STATE IS THE STORY: rural, Republican-leaning counties have passed pause after pause, while Little Rock and Pulaski County -- the two places actually facing large proposed projects -- have repeatedly FAILED to pass one since May.

The Indianapolis City-County Council voted 23-1 on Aug 10, 2026 to halt new data-center permitting in Marion County until at least Dec 31, 2027, to cheers from a packed Public Assembly Room and an overflow room. The Metropolitan Development Commission gave final approval 6-0, making the pause binding. It was sponsored by Council President Maggie Lewis with Mayor Joe Hogsett's support, and follows months of protest over water, energy and noise. Staff will convene a committee of experts and residents to study campus size, building height, sound levels and environmental impact. THE MOST DURABLE PART IS NOT THE PAUSE. Councillors attached a floor amendment writing a DEFINITION of data center into the county zoning code: a facility primarily used to store, manage, process or transmit digital data, covering server farms, AI training and cloud computing, while excluding IT incidental to another permitted use, wireless communications infrastructure, utility substations and public safety or postal facilities -- and specifying that a facility is not automatically exempt merely because the data relates to wireless or broadband. A moratorium expires; a zoning definition does not, and it decides what future rules can even reach. THREE APPROVED PROJECTS ARE EXEMPT and they are the ones that drew the most opposition: DC Blox in Warren Township, Metrobloks in Martindale-Brightwood, and Sabey in Decatur Township, a campus spanning roughly 18 football fields. Campaigners who had packed meetings and held dozens of rallies watched all three approved earlier in the same year. THE LONE NO VOTE IS WORTH READING PROPERLY: Republican Michael-Paul Hart, who last year successfully fought off a Google data center in Franklin Township, argued the city should set clear development standards instead of a ban, that developers will simply use the pause to draft blueprints for when it lifts, and that the question will land on the next council. The pause expires shortly after the 2027 mayoral election, so whoever wins decides what follows.

OUTCOME: passed 23-1, and made binding by the Metropolitan Development Commission 6-0. New data-center permitting in Marion County is halted until at least Dec 31, 2027, with three previously approved projects exempt. Councillors also wrote a definition of data center into the zoning code, which outlasts the pause itself. See the Marion County record on the data-center map for the full account.

Glocester's town council voted 4-1 to cancel its Flock contract AFTER RESIDENTS PACKED TOWN HALL. Narragansett cancelled unanimously in the same state and month, and South Kingstown ended its programme in July, giving Rhode Island three cancellations in two months in a state of about a million people. Glocester itself has roughly 10,000 residents -- the packed-hall detail matters at that scale, where a few dozen people are a substantial share of anyone who votes.

Bids close on a public-safety technology package worth up to $2.4 million, in six components that may be awarded separately or together: drone-as-first-responder systems and docking stations, unmanned aircraft systems, automated license plate readers, pan-tilt-zoom fixed cameras, investigative software, and integration of privately owned camera feeds. The RFP opened around Jul 8. It exists because council voted 8-1 on May 7 to abandon a roughly $2 million sole-vendor expansion with Flock Safety and order competitive bidding, while extending Flock's existing ALPR contract for up to 12 months from July. The Police Accountability Board had identified around 30 material issues with the original package, including undisclosed master-agreement provisions and a liability framework leaving the city without remedy in a major breach, and opposed any Flock contract outright. Council also barred drone flights over mass gatherings except in extreme circumstances. Berkeley's own review found Axon came closest to matching Flock's breadth but its ALPR and camera software supports only search, not alerts or hotlists. No bid-opening time is published and there is no public meeting on Aug 7; the contract award returns to council on a later date. Adjacent-agency note: Alameda County, which contains Berkeley, approved its own $2.4 million Flock extension covering ALPRs, PTZ cameras and drones on Jun 30, 2026 -- county hardware reads Berkeley streets regardless of which vendor the city picks.

At least 11 North Carolina counties and 17 towns have enacted data-center moratoriums, typically one year, according to a North State Journal review of public records, resolutions and official meetings published Aug 6, 2026. Several jurisdictions chose regulation instead of a pause: Lee County and Sanford added data-center rules to their Unified Development Ordinances in April, and Weaverville adopted zoning classifying data centers and crypto mining as restricted uses. THE ORGANISING IS NOT WHO YOU MIGHT ASSUME -- alongside environmental advocacy and citizen-led groups, the Party for Socialism and Liberation has run moratorium campaigns in the state. AND THE PUSHBACK LOSES TOO, which this map has been slow to show: Stokes County approved a project amid opposition and a lawsuit; Vance and Edgecombe counties considered proposals and did not enact them; Davidson County voted down a six-month pause. North Carolina law also limits what a moratorium can reach -- Rowan County's explicitly cannot cover the Long Ferry Road project because site preparation was already underway, so a pause passed after ground is broken may not touch the thing residents objected to. Charlotte, Durham, Harnett County, Cumberland County and Fayetteville were listed as pending rather than enacted as of late April.

Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. banned hyperscale data-center development on all Cherokee Nation trust and tribally owned land in early August 2026. The Nation, based in Tahlequah, has the most enrolled citizens of any tribe in the United States. The ban follows a report by the Principal Chief's Task Force on Data Centers, which surveyed nearly 1,600 citizens: 64 percent opposed hyperscale development within the reservation and 14 percent supported it, the rest undecided. The Nation also said it will not support projects on NON-tribal land inside the reservation without robust consultation addressing water use, electrical demand, environmental impact and protection of cultural resources. It is a shift: in July, Hoskin told the New York Times the Nation did not want to be a bystander but was moving more slowly than some governments while the task force worked. THE BAN'S OWN LIMIT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THIS RECORD, and the tribe's report says it plainly: the Nation has full authority on trust land and LIMITED INFLUENCE over development on non-tribal land, and EVERY ACTIVE HYPERSCALE PROJECT INSIDE THE RESERVATION SITS ON NON-TRIBAL LAND -- including Project Mustang in Claremore. The ban therefore covers the land the Nation controls and not the projects already underway. WHY CONSULTATION IS NOT AUTOMATIC: tribal consultation is triggered by federal permitting under the National Environmental Policy Act, and most data-center projects are deliberately structured to avoid federal permits, so developers can bypass tribal governments entirely. That is a general mechanism, not an Oklahoma quirk. THE TASK FORCE ALSO COULD NOT ESTABLISH HOW MANY DATA CENTERS OKLAHOMA HAS. For the same June 2026 date it cites Cleanview counting 12 operating and 17 planned, DataCenterMap listing 46 operational, and ConstructConnect showing 33 in pre-construction. A government studying the question could not get a straight count, which is worth remembering when reading any facility total, including the ones on this map.

THE AUDIT WORKED, AND THE REQUIRED-REASON FIELD DID NOT. Mooresville Police Officer Elizabeth Anne Snowman, 36, was charged on Aug 5, 2026 with misdemeanour accessing computers under North Carolina General Statute 14-454(B), after the department's ROUTINE 30-DAY AUDIT of its Flock system found she had used it to track her boyfriend's ex-wife. THE NUMBER THAT MATTERS IS 29 OF 31. Chief Ron Campurciani said Snowman ran 31 Flock searches, of which 29 were logged as motor-vehicle infractions and two as burglary or robbery -- and that she was untruthful about why she accessed the system. Two of the 31 were off duty. Mooresville requires officers to enter a reason before searching, which is the safeguard vendors and departments most often point to. This case shows what that safeguard is worth on its own: the field was filled in every time, with a plausible category, and it was false. What caught her was not the reason field but a person reading the log against the searches a month later. A required justification is a record, not a restraint. The department has since made its second major revision to its Flock procedures. She was held on a $5,000 secured bond.

City Hall, 166 Lincolnway, Council Chambers

Plan Commission public hearing on Ordinance No. 16, 2026, a temporary moratorium on new data center development sponsored by Council President Ellen Kapitan. City Council advanced it unanimously on first reading Jul 13 and referred it here for a recommendation. Kapitan removed the original Jul 31, 2028 sunset and asked the commission to weigh in on whether the pause should have an end date at all; draft language would let the council extend or end it at its discretion. Mayor Jon Costas notes no data center has actually been proposed in Valparaiso -- the pause is pre-emptive, and a chance to test how such projects fit the city's new Comprehensive Plan. The city got here the hard way: in April 2026 residents packed a Monday council meeting over an option agreement letting Agincourt Investments buy 180 acres of city land near St. Mary Medical Center for just over $9 million, and the next day Costas halted the project and Agincourt released its option. A separate zoning amendment would make data centers a special use requiring Board of Zoning Appeals approval.

THE CAMERAS ARRIVED UNDER THE VOTING THRESHOLD. Cottonwood had four Flock readers by 2021 and eleven by 2025, and none of that required a council vote -- the cost sat inside the police department's budget, below the level at which councils decide. The programme only reached the council in a Jun 17, 2025 vote because that package was larger: $199,000 for eight more cameras AND TWO DRONES, alongside acceptance of a $213,992.80 state grant tied to anti-human-trafficking work. PROCUREMENT THRESHOLDS, NOT PRIVACY POLICY, DECIDED WHAT GOT DEBATED. On Aug 4, 2026, after seven residents spoke against the readers, three submitted cards in support and about fifteen people stood in solidarity with the speakers, the council agreed without opposition to bring the system back as its own agenda item rather than leaving it in a consent agenda. Vice Mayor Felicia Coates said the community should get to learn how data is retained and what safeguards exist. THE DEPARTMENT'S POSITION, in full: Cmdr. Gareth Braxton-Johnson said the systems were paid for by grants from the Arizona Department of Homeland Security and the Arizona Automobile Theft Authority, that the records fall under the state library's public records retention schedule and are publicly requestable, and that newer cameras do not use facial recognition. NEARBY SEDONA IS THE COMPARISON residents drew: it installed cameras in June 2025 without public notice, then cancelled and removed eleven of them in September 2025 after objections -- already recorded here.

Ord voted unanimously to remove its Flock cameras following backlash -- reported as the FIRST NEBRASKA CITY to do so. A town of roughly 2,000 people, and the only Nebraska entry in IJ's cancellation database. First-in-state cancellations are worth marking because the pattern this map keeps showing is regional: Massachusetts, Arizona, Texas, Arkansas and Wisconsin each moved in clusters, and a cluster starts somewhere.

City Commission Chamber, City Hall, 228 S. Massachusetts Ave

OUTCOME: PASSED 4-3, effective immediately, applause in the chamber. Ordinance 26-018: 12-month moratorium on data centers of any size and large-load users of 50 MW or more; existing facilities may operate but not expand; reaches projects outside city limits seeking Lakeland utility service. Three dissents said the language was too broad. See the Lakeland record on the datacenter map for the full ordinance shape and why SB 484 does not cover municipally owned Lakeland Electric.

TABLED, REVISED, PASSED. Joplin's council tabled its data-center ordinance 9-0 in early July, sending it back to Planning and Zoning for stronger pollution standards and utility-rate protections. On Aug 3, 2026, after nearly two hours of public comment, council adopted the revised rules UNANIMOUSLY. What passed: data centers confined to heavy-industrial zoning and requiring a special use permit rather than being allowed by right; a 45-decibel limit at property lines adjoining residential uses with pre-construction sound testing to document baselines; mandatory wastewater pretreatment and pollutant scans; state and federal emissions compliance; and Tier 4 backup generators. A tabling that produced a stricter ordinance a month later is the pattern worth naming -- the delay was the leverage.

It moved. After discussing a moratorium at a Jul 6, 2026 work session without voting, the North Mankato City Council voted UNANIMOUSLY to set a public hearing for Aug 3, 2026 on an ordinance authorising a study and imposing a one-year moratorium on data centers. The proposed ordinance defines a large-scale data center as a facility primarily used for storing, processing, managing or transmitting digital data that exceeds 250,000 square feet OR uses at least 50,000 gallons of water per day, and sweeps in supporting infrastructure -- offices, cooling systems, generators, water storage, utility substations -- while excluding small computing facilities incidental to another use. City Attorney Chris Kennedy told the council the pause is meant to give the city time to define what a data center even is and how it should be regulated, with the study to cover water consumption, electrical demand, noise, lighting and siting, review other Minnesota cities' ordinances, and track state and federal rules. Resident Benton Bakke pressed for a stricter definition with a smaller building footprint. Context worth carrying: North Mankato was one of five Minnesota cities the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy sued over data-center approvals, but MCEA dropped its case here after no project materialised -- so this is a city regulating in the absence of a proposal. Neighbouring Mankato passed its own one-year moratorium unanimously on Jul 13, and Blue Earth County is considering one.

PASSED 4-3 on Aug 3, 2026, effective immediately -- applause in the chamber when the vote was announced. Ordinance 26-018 imposes a 12-month moratorium on new data centers of ANY size and on other large-load users with projected peak demand of 50 megawatts or more, halting acceptance and review of applications while staff amends the Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Code and Lakeland Electric drafts a large-load policy. Three reaches worth naming. Existing data centers may keep operating but may NOT expand. The pause applies to projects OUTSIDE city limits that seek Lakeland utility service -- the annexation-adjacent gap most moratoriums leave open. And Florida's new SB 484 data-center siting law does not cover Lakeland Electric at all, because it is municipally owned -- the city has to build its own protections, which is the argument commissioners gave for the pause. The three no votes objected that the language was too broad and would catch small operators' expansions; Commissioner Guy LaLonde Jr., who first called for the moratorium at the Jun 12 agenda study, answered that too many unknowns remain. Mayor Sara Roberts McCarley stressed it is temporary and can end early once the studies land. Grew from three months of pushback on Ryan Companies' Project Swan (600,000 sq ft, ~100 MW) -- Lakeland Electric's largest current customer of any kind, Publix, draws about 18 MW. A resident cited a Georgia Tech study finding data-center economic benefits smaller and more uneven than promised. Lakeland is the fifth Tampa Bay-area government with a pause, after Citrus, Hernando and Pasco counties and Zephyrhills.

Two years after entering into force, the core of the EU AI Act becomes applicable on Aug. 2, 2026: transparency duties (including labeling deepfakes and AI-generated content), the rules and enforcement for general-purpose AI models, and the start of enforcement generally. A mid-2026 simplification package moves some high-risk (Annex III) obligations, including certain biometric uses, toward December 2027.

The EU AI Act's Article 50 transparency duties -- labeling AI-generated and deepfake content and disclosing AI chatbots -- become applicable, alongside GPAI penalty powers and national market-surveillance authority. After the May 2026 Digital Omnibus deal, the heavier high-risk-system duties were pushed to December 2027.

Tribal governments have become a distinct front in data-center siting, and this map had no record of it until now. THE SEMINOLE NATION of Oklahoma approved a moratorium on its lands in March 2026. THE KICKAPOO TRIBE of Oklahoma, at McLoud, declared its opposition in July. THE CHEROKEE NATION banned hyperscale development on trust and tribally owned land in early August after surveying nearly 1,600 citizens, 64 percent of whom opposed it. THE MUSCOGEE NATION is studying the impacts. THE WINNEBAGO TRIBE OF NEBRASKA passed a resolution opposing hyperscale development on or near its reservation and sent a council member to speak at the Salix, Iowa moratorium vote a few miles away, telling that council its decisions carry beyond its city limits. WHAT MAKES THIS A DISTINCT CATEGORY rather than more local opposition is the legal mechanism underneath it. Federal law requires consultation with tribal governments when a project needs a federal permit, through the National Environmental Policy Act. Most data-center projects are deliberately structured to avoid federal permitting -- so the consultation requirement never triggers, and developers can proceed without engaging the tribe at all. Tribes are therefore acting through the authority they hold directly, over trust and tribally owned land, precisely because the consultation route does not reach them. That also bounds what these bans achieve: the Cherokee Nation's own report notes it has full authority on trust land and limited influence elsewhere, and every active hyperscale project inside its reservation sits on non-tribal land. A sovereign government can close its own land and still watch the project go up across the boundary.

A CORRECTION TO THE SHAPE OF THIS MAP, recorded because the omission is ours. Of 258 US data-center pushback records here, only 12 are marked overruled -- communities that fought and lost. That is almost certainly not the real ratio; it is what happens when a map is built from coverage, and a moratorium that passes is reported while one that fails often is not. Documented rejections in this period: Tallahassee rejected a proposed AI data-center ban 3-2; Davidson County, North Carolina voted down a six-month pause; Salix, Iowa rejected a moratorium 3-2 after Google was revealed as the developer; and Pulaski County, Arkansas, which had already rejected a moratorium in July, saw the final vote on its replacement regulatory ordinance delayed before an overflow crowd on Aug 25. MICHIGAN SHOWS THE STATE-LEVEL VERSION. Bipartisan House bills HB 5594-5596 and Senate companions SB 1018-1020 would halt data-center permitting until April 2027, and Governor Whitmer has said she would veto any moratorium legislation, calling it an automatic non-starter. More than 20 Michigan townships and cities have enacted local moratoriums independently -- the most of any state. When the statehouse is closed, the fight moves to the township board. PROVENANCE: the individual rejections are relayed from datacenterbans.com and programs.com, which are aggregators, not primaries. They are recorded here as a documented PATTERN with the sourcing stated, not as verified individual outcomes, and each needs a primary before it becomes its own record.

A DEFINING ELECTION ISSUE, then a 5-0 vote. Bayonne's city council approved a data-centre prohibition unanimously and Mayor Sharon Ashe-Nadrowski signed it, making Bayonne -- by Patch's count at the time -- the 23rd New Jersey municipality to ban them. THE DIFFERENCE FROM MOST ENTRIES ON THIS LIST is that Bayonne had something concrete to refuse: no data centre operates there, but three were proposed in the preceding year, including a large AI facility at the Delta Self-Storage site on New Hook Road. Residents packed council meetings for months and the question became a defining issue in the city's mayoral election -- a rare case on this map where a data-centre fight was fought at the ballot box rather than only in a council chamber. The campaign was backed by Friends of Liberty State Park and state Senator Angela McKnight. Resident Jennah Reddick, who led it, said the point was that residents rather than developers held the power, and that they had been told it was a losing fight.

Jersey City, the second-largest city in New Jersey, voted to ban data centres within its limits in August 2026, alongside Howell and Bayonne in the same week. It is the largest municipality on the state's ban list and the one that most complicates the picture of this as a suburban and rural movement -- a dense city with existing commercial infrastructure prohibiting a commercial use outright. SOURCING NOTE: recorded from Patch's statewide roundup and its linked local report; the ordinance number and vote count have not been read directly.

A LOSS, IN THE STATE WITH THE MOST BANS. While three dozen New Jersey municipalities were prohibiting data centres, Vineland approved the next phase of a large AI data-centre project in August 2026 over resident objection -- NJ.com reported residents erupting at the meeting, one telling officials they had been sold out. THIS RECORD EXISTS BECAUSE THE MAP NEEDS IT. New Jersey is being described nationally as the state that said no, on the strength of a ban count kept by advocacy groups. A count of bans cannot show the towns that said yes, and a reader who sees only the bans will misjudge what is actually happening in the state. SOURCING NOTE: recorded from Patch's summary of NJ.com's reporting; the project name, developer, vote and phase details have not been read directly and should be confirmed before this record is cited for specifics.

City Director Kathy Webb proposed an 18-month halt on hyperscale permits, aimed at a planned Google data center, expected before the board in early August. Little Rock adopted a hyperscale definition in June: over 250,000 square feet or more than 75 megawatts. SOURCING: recorded from a statewide tracker rather than a local primary. The jurisdiction, duration and date are as the tracker reports them; the vote count and ordinance text have not been read directly. Treat specifics as provisional pending local confirmation.

Internet Society Pulse recorded 11 shutdowns ongoing as of 18 August 2026, and 75 total or partial shutdowns across 10 countries in the 12 months from August 2025, costing 18,685 hours of access. Pulse's longer series, published 6 August 2026 after an audit with the VEsinFiltro team at Conexion Segura y Libre, counts 916 shutdown events across 61 countries from 2019 to 2025: 70.8 percent lasted a day or less, 95.4 percent ended within 30 days, Asia and Africa account for the most events, and India alone accounts for nearly one in two. Separately UNESCO counted at least 300 shutdowns in more than 54 countries over two years. These are counts by monitoring groups using differing definitions, not a single audited register. Marker placed at the Internet Society's Reston, Virginia base; the figures are global.

Five Colombian journalists linked to Yo Te Creo Colega, an initiative set up by journalists to collect and document accounts of sexual and workplace harassment in the news industry, received death threats, misogynistic abuse and intimidation after publishing accounts from people alleging abuse by a prominent Colombian journalist. RSF reported this on 14 August 2026 and called on the authorities to protect the five and to open an investigation. Allegations across the Colombian media industry have accumulated since March 2026 in what has been described as a MeToo moment for Colombian journalism. The five are not named in the material read for this entry. Marker at Bogota; individual locations are not given. Whether any investigation has been opened is not established.

Three consecutive days against one outlet. On Saturday 1 August 2026 Yonas Kedir, editor-in-chief of Addis Standard, was seized in Addis Ababa by armed men in civilian clothes, assaulted, and held about 24 hours under interrogation; his home was searched and personal and work equipment taken. Kedir's account, submitted to his publisher's lawyers, says interrogators focused on a question he put to AFRICOM commander General Anderson at a press briefing about Ethiopia's role in the conflict in Sudan, and on the outlet's reporting of a Tigray interim administration statement on renewed fighting in Western Tigray. On 2 August heavily armed security and intelligence personnel entered the offices without process and seized 4K cameras, tripods, microphones, audio and video production equipment, and deliberately damaged studio lighting. On 3 August the landlord of premises the outlet had occupied for 16 years served notice to vacate within three days, saying police had compelled it; publisher JAKENN Publishing PLC has gone to court to challenge the notice as contrary to its lease. This follows the Ethiopian Media Authority's decision of 24 February 2026 revoking Addis Standard's online media registration certificate for alleged repeated breaches of media law and national interests, which the outlet is contesting in court, and the seizure in April 2026 of managing editor Million Beyene, held incommunicado nearly two weeks and released without charge with no public explanation. CPJ's Muthoki Mumo calls it a campaign to dismantle a leading independent newsroom; HRW's Mausi Segun places it in a pattern of arbitrary arrests and revoked accreditations. The authorities have not publicly explained the detention or the raid. RSF ranks Ethiopia 148th of 180 and counts five journalists in detention there.

George Atabong Lekeaka has been held incommunicado since 10 August 2026 after publishing a photo of security officers on patrol during clashes with separatist fighters. CPJ says he has had no access to a lawyer or his family and called on authorities to disclose his whereabouts and release him. The Anglophone crisis began in 2016 with protests by lawyers and teachers in the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions. Marker placed at Bamenda, the Northwest regional capital: the place of detention has not been disclosed, so the coordinates locate the region covered, not a confirmed site. No charge is established.

Alrayah Isam Gaksa, a contributor to the news site Hekaiyat and to Baankhi Press, was stopped at the entrance to Wad Madani on 2 August 2026 by the Sudan Shield Forces, an armed group operating within the Sudanese Armed Forces-aligned coalition and led by commander Abu Aqla Keikel, as he returned from covering activities at Al-Jazirah University's Faculty of Education. The account is from a statement by the Sudanese Journalists Syndicate. In a statement on 4 August the Sudan Shield Forces denied arresting a journalist but acknowledged detaining an individual wanted over other allegations. CPJ called for his release. His whereabouts and status are not established.

Lukpan Akhmedyarov, founder of the YouTube-based outlet Prosto Zhurnalistika, was stopped on 3 August 2026 while trying to fly from Astana to Montenegro on holiday with his family. Border guards told him city police had placed him under a travel ban. He described the stop on Facebook. CPJ says the ban is unexplained and comes amid a rise in criminal prosecutions of leading independent journalists in Kazakhstan; CPJ and five other organisations had written to the Kazakh authorities in April 2026. No official justification for the ban is established.

Parliament passed the Public Gathering Bill 2026, and President Hakainde Hichilema did not assent to it. Access Now, which had said the bill would further restrict assembly and association through vague and overbroad provisions, commended the decision in its 5 August 2026 letter. A win for the assembly side of the ledger, recorded alongside the losses. MISA separately recommends that the legislature review the Public Order Act and the 2025 cyber laws. Whether the bill will be returned to Parliament in amended form is not established.

On polling day, 13 August 2026: ZANIS photojournalist Levy Mwale was assaulted and ordered to stop filming by Tonse Alliance supporters at the Olympia Secondary School polling centre while covering presidential candidate Brian Mundubile voting; Real Times journalist Linda Nyondo was ordered by party activists to delete her footage; and Zambezi FM journalist Edna Mupila was harassed by Electoral Commission of Zambia officials after filming their late arrival. MISA condemned the attacks and the failure of security details to protect journalists, and says the selective application of the law lets state agents and party cadres act without consequence. No arrests over these incidents are established. Locations are not given in the source beyond the Olympia polling centre, so all three sit on Lusaka.

ZNBC journalist McPherson Mukuka was imprisoned for two weeks under the Cyber Crimes Act ahead of Zambia's 13 August 2026 general election, on an allegation of recording a private conversation without consent. MISA describes the detention as a tactical instrument that warned the whole sector against departing from state-sanctioned narratives, and says private outlets Diamond TV, Hot FM and News Diggers attempted balanced coverage under the shadow of judicial intimidation. To ask: whether charges remain live and the next court date.

Razi Tahir and Muhammad Saif, independent journalists who publish through Tahir's social media channels, were taken from their Islamabad office on 1 August 2026 by men in police uniform and moved to an undisclosed location. Islamabad police have not acknowledged the detention and their whereabouts remained unknown when CPJ published on 5 August. Both had reported on the unrest in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, where authorities suspended internet service and restricted the press. Saif is a Kashmiri journalist. Accounts come from a colleague's post and a local journalist who spoke to CPJ anonymously fearing reprisal. Whether they have since been released or charged is not established.

Enacted in 2025 alongside the Cyber Crimes Act No. 4 of 2025 and used through the August 2026 election period. MISA reports that the Zambia Cyber Security Agency, whose head is appointed by the president, supported police investigations into critics of that same president and of the Electoral Commission of Zambia -- a conflict of interest MISA calls structural. Police and the army issued public warnings about online speech that MISA describes as unlawful. A Constitutional Court challenge to the 2025 cyber laws is pending; no hearing date is established and the outcome is not established. MISA also records the enactment of an Access to Information law and the repeal of criminal defamation of the president, but says defamation survives as a crime under other Penal Code provisions. To ask: the case number and next listing of the Constitutional Court challenge.

MISA Regional's preliminary statement on the 13 August 2026 general elections, published 17 August 2026, says the Zambia Cyber Security Agency supported police investigations into critics of the president and of the Electoral Commission of Zambia. The agency's head is appointed by the president, which MISA calls a structural conflict of interest. MISA also reports public warnings issued by the Zambia Police Service and the army that it describes as unlawful, and attributes a chilling effect to the Cyber Security Act 2025 and the Cyber Crimes Act 2025. MISA says a Constitutional Court challenge to both Acts is pending; the outcome is not established and no hearing date is recorded here. No government response is included in the statement. Ask the Agency for the number of investigations it supported and the statutory basis for each. Coordinates are Lusaka, not a specific facility.

A 911 DIRECTOR, NOT AN OFFICER, QUERYING ANOTHER AGENCY'S CAMERAS MORE THAN 1,200 TIMES. The GBI arrested Paulding County 911 Director Heidi Taylor on two misdemeanour counts after an audit found she had searched the DALLAS POLICE DEPARTMENT'S Flock network for non-law-enforcement purposes upwards of 1,200 times. Two things distinguish this from the other Georgia cases. First, the role: a dispatch director is not sworn, and her access existed because emergency communications staff are routinely credentialed into police systems -- which means the population able to search these networks is wider than the officer count any department publishes. Second, the network: she was querying a neighbouring city's cameras, not her own county's, so the searches would not appear in any audit Paulding County ran on itself. The searches were found where the cameras were, not where the searcher was. That is the shared-access problem this map records as policy, appearing as a criminal case for the second time in Georgia within a month. NOT ESTABLISHED: whose plates were searched. Georgia has the second-most Flock cameras of any state.

This map flags 23 communities under two or more surveillance systems at once -- 12 running several VENDORS, and 11 more running several TECHNOLOGIES bought from a single vendor, which a vendor count structurally cannot see (recorded separately as inc-us-one-vendor-many-systems). That number is still almost certainly low, and Asheville shows a third reason why. WHEN ASHEVILLE'S COUNCIL VOTED TO TERMINATE ITS FLOCK CONTRACT ON AUG 25, 2026, THE MAYOR NOTED THAT THE CITY'S EXISTING AXON CONTRACT -- for police body and dash cameras -- ALSO INCLUDES STATIONARY LICENCE PLATE READERS. The city had not voted for a second ALPR vendor. It acquired the capability inside a contract about something else. A council can end the ALPR programme it debated and still hold plate-reading rights it never discussed. THAT IS A DIFFERENT MECHANISM FROM THE STACKING THIS MAP ALREADY RECORDS. Renton, Lenexa, Berkeley and the rest chose several systems. Bundled capability arrives as a line item in a procurement about body cameras, evidence storage or a real-time crime centre -- so it does not appear in an ALPR debate, an ALPR budget line, or an ALPR vote, and a records request asking about ALPR contracts may not return it. HOW BADLY IT SKEWS THE COUNT IS NOT KNOWN, and this record does not guess. What is known: 15 community records in this dataset name a second vendor somewhere in their text without being flagged as multi-vendor, most of them Axon appearing alongside Flock, and each needs reading to establish whether it is a switch, an evaluation, a bundle, or genuine simultaneous operation. WHAT WOULD SETTLE IT: for each community, the full vendor contract rather than the ALPR line -- whether the body-camera, evidence-management or crime-centre agreement carries plate-reading rights. That is a records-request question, not a search question, and it is the single most likely source of undercounting in the stacked category.

The failure that recurs most often across this map is not an officer misusing a search. It is a sharing configuration nobody locally approved, and in several cases nobody locally knew about. SAN FRANCISCO: out-of-state authorities ran more than 1.6 million searches of the city's plate data, including for immigration enforcement, which California law forbids. DAYTON: more than 140 agencies nationwide searched the city's system for immigration purposes over several years, against city policy. SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS: an Illinois Secretary of State audit found Customs and Border Protection had obtained access to state plate-reader data in violation of state law. EAGAN, MINNESOTA: out-of-state agencies searched Twin Cities suburbs' data for civil immigration enforcement, though Minnesota law limits it to criminal cases. STORY COUNTY, IOWA: other agencies had obtained access without permission. RICHMOND, VIRGINIA: the system administrator granted access to a federal ATF analyst, who then ran immigration searches against departmental policy; separately a sergeant shared data with the FBI in breach of a policy barring federal sharing. SPARKS, NEVADA: the department receives immigration-violation hot-list alerts from ICE despite its own policy prohibiting immigration use. PFLUGERVILLE, TEXAS: a RESIDENT'S open records request revealed hundreds of outside agencies holding unauthorised access -- and the city responded by shutting the system down and covering the cameras. THREE THINGS THIS SET SHOWS. The violated rule is usually the jurisdiction's OWN policy or its state's law, not an absence of rules. Discovery is almost always external -- an audit, a reporter, a records request by a resident -- rather than routine oversight. And the destination is disproportionately federal immigration enforcement, in places whose policies specifically excluded it. A council can vote on whether to have cameras; these cases turn on who can search them afterwards, which is rarely what the vote is about.

A procurement pattern this map has now documented twice, and it explains how cameras arrive in places that never debated them. Most councils require a vote above a spending threshold. Below it, a department buys on its own authority. FORT WAYNE: police spent $25,200 in July 2024 and $92,995 in 2025 -- each under the $100,000 that triggers council approval -- and ended up with 36 cameras. The renewal only reached the council at all because the cumulative figure finally crossed the line, and when it did, the council rejected it 8-0. DENVER: an extension was written at $498,500 after the council had rejected a $666,000 renewal, coming in $1,500 under the amount that would have required a vote. NEITHER IS ALLEGED TO BE UNLAWFUL, and that is the point. Both are ordinary uses of delegated spending authority. But the effect is that the public debate happens, if it happens, only after the system is already installed and relied upon -- which is a much harder argument to win than one held before the first camera goes up. Fort Wayne is the clearest illustration in both directions: it took two years of sub-threshold purchases to build the network, and one vote to refuse to renew it. WHAT WOULD SETTLE HOW COMMON THIS IS: a comparison of ALPR contract values against each jurisdiction's own approval threshold. Two cases is a pattern worth naming, not a measurement.

Goochland became the FIRST RICHMOND-AREA LOCALITY to stop using Flock technology, in late August 2026. The sheriff's office said in a statement on Facebook that its staff continue to monitor legal, technological and policy developments related to ALPR systems -- which reads as leaving the door open rather than closing the question. THE GEOGRAPHY IS THE POINT: opposition had been voiced in northern and eastern Virginia without contract terminations following, while Southwest and Southside acted. Goochland is the first crossing into the Richmond area. SOURCING: Cardinal News, 3 September 2026, which reported the week's decisions together; individual county statements have not been read directly.

The city council adopted a resolution to terminate ALL of the city's Flock contracts -- the plural matters, since a city can hold several agreements covering different products, and ending one leaves the others running. SOURCING: recorded from a public-records compilation of terminated and paused Flock contracts (Aug 28 2026 edition) which supplies the agency, action type, date and the primary linked here; the primary has not been read directly in every case, so provenance is marked accordingly.

Police suspended the programme after an internal review found MISCONDUCT. Recorded as a pause rather than a removal because the contract was not ended; the misuse finding is the reason and is the department's own. SOURCING: recorded from a public-records compilation of terminated and paused Flock contracts (Aug 28 2026 edition) which supplies the agency, action type, date and the primary linked here; the primary has not been read directly in every case, so provenance is marked accordingly.

The mayor announced immediate termination of the programme and the contract. Northern Kentucky now records four in eight days -- Fort Mitchell, Independence, Fort Thomas and Cynthiana -- a tighter regional cluster than anywhere else in this dataset. SOURCING: recorded from a public-records compilation of terminated and paused Flock contracts (Aug 28 2026 edition) which supplies the agency, action type, date and the primary linked here; the primary has not been read directly in every case, so provenance is marked accordingly.

The town council voted to terminate and have the cameras removed. SOURCING: recorded from a public-records compilation of terminated and paused Flock contracts (Aug 28 2026 edition) which supplies the agency, action type, date and the primary linked here; the primary has not been read directly in every case, so provenance is marked accordingly.

Police declined to renew the contract. With Indianola three days earlier and Coralville in February, Iowa records three separate departments stepping back inside seven months. SOURCING: recorded from a public-records compilation of terminated and paused Flock contracts (Aug 28 2026 edition) which supplies the agency, action type, date and the primary linked here; the primary has not been read directly in every case, so provenance is marked accordingly.

Police suspended the programme citing privacy and data security concerns, a departmental decision rather than a council vote. SOURCING: recorded from a public-records compilation of terminated and paused Flock contracts (Aug 28 2026 edition) which supplies the agency, action type, date and the primary linked here; the primary has not been read directly in every case, so provenance is marked accordingly.

The board voted unanimously to terminate the programme and remove the cameras, one of three Florida jurisdictions to act in the last week of August 2026 alongside Manatee County and Palm Bay. SOURCING: recorded from a public-records compilation of terminated and paused Flock contracts (Aug 28 2026 edition) which supplies the agency, action type, date and the primary linked here; the primary has not been read directly in every case, so provenance is marked accordingly.

The sheriff is replacing Flock cameras with Axon. A vendor change, not a reduction -- recorded as switched so it cannot be counted as a cancellation. SOURCING: recorded from a public-records compilation of terminated and paused Flock contracts (Aug 28 2026 edition) which supplies the agency, action type, date and the primary linked here; the primary has not been read directly in every case, so provenance is marked accordingly.

The council directed staff to cover the cameras and take them offline over PERMITTING AND INSTALLATION problems rather than privacy. A distinct route: the objection is that the hardware was put up without the right approvals, which is checkable in a way a privacy argument is not. SOURCING: recorded from a public-records compilation of terminated and paused Flock contracts (Aug 28 2026 edition) which supplies the agency, action type, date and the primary linked here; the primary has not been read directly in every case, so provenance is marked accordingly.

The board voted unanimously against awarding a Flock contract, on the same day the Florida governor called plate-reader use in the state out of control. Recorded as denied: nothing was deployed. SOURCING: recorded from a public-records compilation of terminated and paused Flock contracts (Aug 28 2026 edition) which supplies the agency, action type, date and the primary linked here; the primary has not been read directly in every case, so provenance is marked accordingly.

The city council moved to remove the cameras and suspend the programme, Delaware's first entry on this map. SOURCING: recorded from a public-records compilation of terminated and paused Flock contracts (Aug 28 2026 edition) which supplies the agency, action type, date and the primary linked here; the primary has not been read directly in every case, so provenance is marked accordingly.

The sheriff paused the programme for 30 days and deactivated the cameras, after meeting commissioners and amid public complaints AND VANDALISM. The vandalism is part of the stated reason, which this map records rather than omits: camera attacks are a documented pressure on these decisions as well as a crime. SOURCING: recorded from a public-records compilation of terminated and paused Flock contracts (Aug 28 2026 edition) which supplies the agency, action type, date and the primary linked here; the primary has not been read directly in every case, so provenance is marked accordingly.

The police chief suspended the programme after community opposition and the cameras were deactivated immediately. A chief acting without a council vote appears repeatedly in this dataset and leaves no roll call for anyone to check. SOURCING: recorded from a public-records compilation of terminated and paused Flock contracts (Aug 28 2026 edition) which supplies the agency, action type, date and the primary linked here; the primary has not been read directly in every case, so provenance is marked accordingly.

The university announced it had terminated its Flock contract. CAMPUS POLICE ARE A CATEGORY THIS MAP BARELY HOLDS and they are genuinely separate decisions: a university runs its own contract under its own governing body, over a population that often cannot vote in the surrounding city. With Kent State and the University of Wisconsin-Madison already recorded, this is the third. SOURCING: recorded from a public-records compilation of terminated and paused Flock contracts (Aug 28 2026 edition) which supplies the agency, action type, date and the primary linked here; the primary has not been read directly in every case, so provenance is marked accordingly.

The council voted against renewing a contract that expired two days later, on 23 August 2026, and said it would consider other vendors. A two-day gap between vote and expiry leaves no room for a reversal, which is unusual on this map. SOURCING: recorded from a public-records compilation of terminated and paused Flock contracts (Aug 28 2026 edition) which supplies the agency, action type, date and the primary linked here; the primary has not been read directly in every case, so provenance is marked accordingly.

The council declined to renew a contract expiring in November 2026 and said it would consider other vendors -- so the cameras keep running for roughly three months after the decision, and a successor vendor is an open question rather than a settled outcome. SOURCING: recorded from a public-records compilation of terminated and paused Flock contracts (Aug 28 2026 edition) which supplies the agency, action type, date and the primary linked here; the primary has not been read directly in every case, so provenance is marked accordingly.

The council voted 7-1 to let the Flock contract expire AND TO MOVE TO AXON WITH AN EXPANDED PROGRAMME. This is not a reduction in surveillance and the record should not be read as one -- it is a change of vendor with more cameras, the pattern this map records as `switched` rather than `removed`. SOURCING: recorded from a public-records compilation of terminated and paused Flock contracts (Aug 28 2026 edition) which supplies the agency, action type, date and the primary linked here; the primary has not been read directly in every case, so provenance is marked accordingly.

The city council voted to suspend the Flock programme and police disabled the cameras immediately rather than winding down over a notice period. Arkansas now records one of the densest clusters on this map -- Cabot, Centerton, Farmington, Greers Ferry, Mayflower, Pea Ridge and Searcy all acted within about five weeks. SOURCING: recorded from a public-records compilation of terminated and paused Flock contracts (Aug 28 2026 edition) which supplies the agency, action type, date and the primary linked here; the primary has not been read directly in every case, so provenance is marked accordingly.

The county commission voted not to renew the contract. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The city ended its contract over FINANCIAL concerns. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The sheriff's office ended the contract over concerns about COMMUNITY TRUST. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The city voted unanimously to cancel after residents raised concerns. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The police chief said the contract would not be renewed following backlash. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The town voted unanimously to cancel over resident concerns. Rhode Island now records three cancellations in short order with Glocester and South Kingstown -- a small-state cluster. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The sheriff said he would cancel the contract over FOURTH AMENDMENT concerns, naming the constitutional question rather than privacy generally, as Fort Mitchell KY did. Pinal is the fourth Arizona jurisdiction to act in August 2026 with Tempe, Cave Creek and Surprise. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

County commissioners voted to end the contract early. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The council moved to end its Flock contracts over privacy concerns. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The city ended the contract amid BUDGET CUTS and privacy concerns together. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The city voted unanimously to terminate over privacy concerns. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The sheriff had all cameras taken down following public backlash. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The city council voted unanimously to terminate after members of the public spoke against the cameras. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The sheriff said the county would not renew when the contract expires in MARCH 2027, after community feedback. One of the few forward-dated exits here: the decision is made, the cameras keep running until then. NOT ESTABLISHED: whether the expiry proceeds as announced. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The city council voted unanimously to end the ALPR contract after residents raised privacy concerns. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The council voted to terminate after residents spoke out on privacy. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The sheriff cancelled and deactivated the cameras in response to privacy concerns. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The city cancelled over LACK OF RESULTS. Cost and non-performance recur across this map as stated reasons -- Kingston TN, Killingworth CT, Greenfield MA, Clearwater County ID, Winston OR, Isanti County MN -- and they are real outcomes for residents who argued the programme was not worth the money, even though they are not privacy victories. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The township cancelled before installation after community backlash. NOTE ON THE SOURCE: IJ's database lists this jurisdiction TWICE -- once as Sumpter Township and once as Sumpter County, Michigan, which does not exist -- with different outcome categories. Even the most structured source available on this subject carries duplicates, which is why every count of these cancellations, including ours, should be read as a floor rather than a census. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The sheriff ordered removal after losing community support for the programme. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The sheriff had the cameras removed after gathering community feedback. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The city manager cancelled the city's trial contract after community pushback. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The sheriff cancelled BEFORE THE TRIAL PERIOD ENDED over community concerns. With Oceana County MI at one week and West St. Paul, the free-trial route keeps producing early exits: a trial creates the public moment a signed contract avoids. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The police chief cancelled after residents raised privacy concerns and questioned DATA RETENTION policy specifically. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The police department cancelled so that residents would feel heard and respected on their concerns. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The sheriff said he would let the contract expire at the end of the year, citing privacy, DATA SHARING and funding concerns together. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The board of commissioners voted to terminate after 14 people spoke against the cameras at a hearing. One of the few records here with a countable turnout attached to the vote. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The mayor let the contract expire, citing changes in the technology, changes in the COMPANY'S OWN POLICIES, and information that had come to light. A cancellation whose stated cause is partly the vendor's conduct rather than the town's experience of it. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The mayor removed the cameras after residents raised concerns. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The town council voted unanimously to terminate the contract and remove all cameras over DATA SECURITY concerns. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The police chief announced the programme would be terminated after public outcry, before deployment. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The town ended a two-year Flock trial about a year early, saying the landscape around the technology had changed overwhelmingly. A trial abandoned mid-term because the surrounding facts moved, not because of anything the trial itself found. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The police department ended ALPR use immediately, citing the DIVISIVE atmosphere around the cameras. The stated reason is neither privacy nor cost nor misuse but the community conflict itself. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The police department severed its relationship with Flock citing a CONTRACTUAL DEFECT. With Hopkinton's procurement-law finding and Knox County TN declaring its contract invalid, that is a third exit route on this map and the most portable one: a contract never lawfully formed can be undone without winning the privacy argument. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The police department said it would not renew its Flock contract, citing concerns about TRANSPARENCY AND FUNDING together. It was one of three Massachusetts towns to cut ties in the same week alongside Auburn and Douglas. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The sheriff announced termination of the contract after intense debate in the community. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

Police turned an earlier temporary PAUSE into a full cancellation and removed the cameras. The pause-to-permanent route also produced Windsor CT and Albany OR: a pause is often not a compromise but a slower cancellation. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The town administratively terminated its Flock agreement effective immediately, citing resident concerns, POLICY LIMITATIONS, and recent events involving the Flock system. It acted the same day as Tempe, roughly three hours later -- two cancellations in one afternoon in one metropolitan area. The stated reason names the limits of what a town can control inside the contract and the platform, not a local misuse finding. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The police department cancelled its Flock partnership BEFORE the cameras were deployed, after residents told it the programme was overreach. Recorded from the Institute for Justice cancellation database, which links the primary cited here; the primary has not been read directly, so the summary is IJ's.

The Isanti County sheriff cited BUDGET CONSIDERATIONS rather than controversy for cancelling the county's Flock contract, and the reporting drew that distinction explicitly. Cost appears repeatedly across this map as the stated reason -- Kingston Tennessee on financial concerns, Killingworth Connecticut deciding the cameras were not worth it, Greenfield Massachusetts running out of funds, Clearwater County Idaho citing utility and funding, Winston Oregon amid budget cuts, Salida Colorado over a lack of results. Recording it accurately matters in both directions: it would be wrong to count these as privacy victories, and equally wrong to leave them out, since a programme that cannot justify its cost is a real outcome for residents who argued it was not worth the money.

Kendall County commissioners voted unanimously not to renew, saying they were not convinced THE NECESSARY ASSURANCES AND PROTECTIONS EXIST. That phrasing is worth preserving because it inverts the usual burden: the commissioners did not find misuse in their own county, they declined to continue in the absence of proof that safeguards were adequate. Most records on this map turn on something that went wrong locally; this one turns on nothing having been demonstrated. Part of an eleven-jurisdiction Texas cluster.

Wylie's city council voted unanimously not to renew its ALPR contract after receiving feedback and A PETITION FROM 700 RESIDENTS. It is the clearest instance on this map of an organised, countable public demand producing a unanimous vote, and it sits in a Texas cluster that also includes Pflugerville, Hood County, Lago Vista, Burnet County, Guadalupe County, Kendall County, Ingleside, Aransas Pass, Bandera, Hays County and San Marcos. Kendall County's commissioners gave a notably precise reason for their own unanimous non-renewal: they were not convinced the necessary assurances and protections existed.

The Bernalillo County sheriff ended the county's Flock contract, saying he had LOST TRUST with the company. New Mexico's largest county by population, and the second record on this map where the stated reason is the vendor's own conduct rather than the technology or a departmental failure -- Cambridge, Massachusetts cancelled in December 2025 citing a breach of trust by Flock. Taos ended its programme in the same state a month earlier by defunding it. A sheriff going on the record about trust in a vendor is a different kind of statement from a council responding to residents, because it comes from the customer.

Surprise voted to cancel its Flock contract and requested removal of all equipment after discovering a POTENTIAL POLICY VIOLATION. It is one of four Arizona cancellations in August 2026 alongside Tempe, Cave Creek and Pinal County, with Chandler discontinuing after an audit found misuse, and follows Sedona, Flagstaff, Sierra Vista and South Tucson earlier in the wave. Eight Arizona jurisdictions is among the densest state clusters on this map, and unlike the Massachusetts wave -- which ran heavily on resident objection -- the Arizona cases cluster around policy violations and audits found inside departments.

A local DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY ended its Flock contract in Dickinson County, which prompted the sheriff to cover all of the county's cameras. The mechanism is worth recording: the decision was not made by the county board or the sheriff but by a partner agency, and the county's coverage collapsed with it. Where several agencies share one deployment, any of them leaving can end it for the rest -- the mirror image of the shared-access problem this map records elsewhere, where data spreads to agencies a council never approved.

Greers Ferry announced it would remove its plate-reader cameras after concerns were raised. The Institute for Justice had previously sent the town a letter demanding it MOVE A CAMERA POINTED AT A FAMILY'S HOME. Farmington, in the same state and the same month, cancelled partly because cameras were found aimed at private property. Where a camera points is a smaller question than whether the programme exists, and in both towns it was the one that moved the decision. Part of an Arkansas cluster of seven or more cancellations since late July.

Farmington police RECOMMENDED cancelling the town's own Flock contract after a false hit, and after cameras were found pointed at private property. A police department asking to end its own surveillance programme is rare on this map, and the two reasons are the ones residents most often raise without being able to prove: a wrong alert, and cameras aimed where they should not be. Here the department confirmed both.

Tempe shut down its Flock system in August 2026 and announced it WOULD NOT SEEK A CONTRACT WITH ANOTHER ALPR PROVIDER. That second half is unusual and is why the record exists separately: most cancellations on this map leave the vendor question open, and a substantial number are followed within months by a different company's cameras. Tempe closed that door explicitly. Appleton, Wisconsin did the same in a different form, publicly confirming it had not sought an Axon contract or recommended replacing Flock with one.

The Oceana County sheriff cancelled a 90-day Flock trial ONE WEEK IN, following significant negative public feedback. It is the shortest deployment recorded on this map -- shorter even than Grafton's month -- and one of a set of cancellations that happened before the technology was in service at all: Watertown and East Bridgewater Massachusetts, Weston Missouri, Siskiyou County California, Lane County Oregon, Newport Kentucky, Sumpter Township Michigan and Hartford Kentucky all stopped before or during installation. Free trials appear repeatedly in that group, which is worth noting: a trial creates the public moment that a signed contract avoids.

Bolivar voted unanimously to cancel its Flock contract AND TO BAN automated licence plate readers outright. Sedona, Arizona did the same in September 2025, permanently ending its programme and prohibiting ALPRs. A ban is materially different from a cancellation: it forecloses the vendor switch that this map records again and again, where a council ends one contract and the department returns with another company's cameras months later.

Knox County's mayor announced that the county's Flock contract was INVALID and that the county will consider a total ban on automated licence plate readers. That is a distinct route from the rest of this map's removals: not a vote to end a valid contract, but a determination that the agreement should not have bound the county in the first place -- and a move from ending one vendor to prohibiting the technology outright.

Dodge County referred a data-center moratorium to committee; the board chair said a public hearing could happen as soon as late July or in August before a full-board vote. Exact date to be set.

The accuracy number behind every wrongful-stop record on this map: an analysis of alerts sent to the Roseville Police Department found that in 71 percent of cases where Flock flagged a vehicle as stolen or tied to a felony, the system had misread the license plate -- 1,427 alerts over 2023-2024, per Business Insider via Gizmodo. Roseville PD had reported bad reads to Flock dozens of times over four years, and spent roughly $450,000 on the system. BOTH SIDES, in full: Flock called the figure a mischaracterization, said performance has significantly improved (Roseville PD disputes that), blamed a unique deployment -- older hardware, non-standard mounting higher and farther from vehicles than recommended, and rear-only scanning the city chose to avoid capturing faces -- and cited its own testing of over 99 percent capture and over 96 percent OCR accuracy in optimal conditions. Read that defence carefully, because it concedes the asymmetry: the system is extremely accurate at logging every passing car into the searchable database, and far less accurate in the moment it accuses a specific driver. Roseville says it never stopped or arrested anyone on a bad scan. Other departments were not as careful -- the Institute for Justice counts at least 27 drivers pulled over, detained at gunpoint, or jailed on Flock misreads, including an Arkansas family held at gunpoint over a one-letter misread and a San Diego man jailed nearly a month over a car that was five miles from the crime.