GOV. KATHY HOCHUL IS SECRETLY ROLLING OUT MASS SURVEILLANCE OF ALL NYERS WITH 'FLOCK' CAMERAS
LICENSE PLATE READING SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS ARE POPPING UP ALL OVER THE NORTH COUNTRY AND MOST OF THE PUBLIC OFFICIALS PUTTING THEM THERE ARE PLAYING DUMB
An Amish horse-and-buggy passes beneath an Automatic License Plate Reading surveillance camera surveilling a state-owned public road in Bombay, New York, near the Canadian border. Photo credit: JB Nicholas.
MALONE, NEW YORK Sept. 17, 2026
EXCLUSIVE PART 1 OF A SERIES
Gov. Kathy Hochul is spying on New Yorkers with "FLOCK" cameras in the North Country and now she is expanding the secretive program.
FLOCK and FLOCK-style automatic license plate reading surveillance cameras have been mysteriously appearing on state and county roads in five northern New York counties since at least 2021: Warren, Clinton, Franklin, St. Lawrence and, now, Jefferson. Some of the sheriffs and other local officials in these counties appear to be cooperating with Gov. Hochul's expansion of her mass-survillance program, but they don’t want to admit it.
State Police Supt. Steven James told a joint state legislative oversight committee in February 2025 that Gov. Hochul wanted $8 million to "fund the purchase of technology and equipment to support intelligence gathering, criminal investigations and interdiction, and enforcement of New York State laws."
Supt. James said "this money will enhance our criminal enforcement efforts throughout the north country"—exactly where all the new cameras are going.
A rough count by The Free Lance News in September tallied 111 cameras in 90 locations. It is likely an undercount. The number of cameras increases every month.
In Jefferson County, for example, County Administrator Ryan Piche said county officials didn't know there were two pairs of the spy cameras on public roads in his county until The Free Lance News contacted him for comment about them on Tuesday.
"The County does not own any of the Flock Cameras positioned at Antwerp or the Town of Alexandria," Piche replied on Wednesday.
"In fact, until yesterday," Piche wrote, "our law enforcement team was not aware of the cameras in Antwerp and Alexandria. The County is unaware of who installed those cameras or who they belong to."
Like most people, Piche called the cameras "FLOCK" cameras. FLOCK is just one brand of "Automatic License Plate Reading" cameras, or ALPRs. Because FLOCK dominates the ALPR market outside of New York, all ALPR surveillance cameras have come to be called "FLOCK" cameras in ordinary conversation. Its like calling all cola "Coke" and all personal watercraft “Jet-Skis.”
Most—but not all—"FLOCK" license plate-reading ALPR surveillance cameras currently in use by government agencies in the North Country are actually made by Motorola. That includes the ones in Jefferson County.
The location on State Route 30 in Franklin County where a pair of ALPR surveillance cameras were cut down and stolen in late August or early September. Photo credit: JB Nicholas.
Another pair of the exact same "FLOCK" ALPR cameras made by Motorola turned up on State Route 30 in the town of Brighton (Pop. 1,165) in the middle of Adirondack Park last winter. The Park protects the largest wilderness east of the Mississippi. Someone, in effect, put the cameras in the middle of the forest
Like Piche and his colleagues in Jefferson County, no one in Brighton was consulted or even informed by anyone about the cameras before they appeared. Town officials also likewise said they had no idea the cameras were even there until this reporter made a public records request for documents related to them in July.
Liz DeFonce, the Brighton Town Clerk, responded to the request by saying she didn't have any records about the cameras and didn't know who put them there. She volunteered to ask members of the Brighton Town Board if they knew anything about the cameras at the next monthly board meeting.
"I asked about your request at our board meeting last week and no one in the town had any information regarding the cameras on Route 30," DeFonce wrote in an email after the Board's August meeting.
"Our best guess is that, since it's a state road, the New York State Police put them up and are monitoring them," DeFonce added. "They would probably know more about them."
Even some police chiefs of towns and villages in the North Country don't know who is putting the cameras up. But they do know who to contact for the license plate information gathered by them if they need it to help solve a crime: the New York State Police.
Adding to the confusion, at least one pair of the exact same Motorola-manufactured ALPR cameras popping up on public roads all over the North Country appear to belong to the US Border Patrol—at the very least suggesting close cooperation between the State Police and federal law enforcement officials to operate the cameras and share the personal information they collect between them.
When The Free Lance News asked the US Customs and Border Patrol point-blank if that particular pair of Motorola ALPR cameras belongs to it, a spokesman for the federal law enforcement agency did not deny the cameras were theirs.
In fact, he strongly suggested they were.
"US Customs and Border Protection utilizes a variety of tools, technologies, and intelligence-driven strategies to secure our borders," Customs and Border Patrol spokesman Ryan Brissette said in an emailed statement. "These measures ensure that our operations align with our mission to protect the homeland while respecting the rights of individuals.”
If the State Police are sharing license plate data with the Border Patrol, and the Border Patrol is using that information to enforce immigration laws, it would violate a new state law prohibiting police in New York from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement. The new law, the "Local Cops, Local Crimes Act,” was championed by Gov. Hochul herself and signed into law by her back in May.
Jessica D'Amelia, Gov. Kathy Houchul's Deputy Communications Director for criminal justice, did not respond to a request to clarify who owns the cameras and what they're used for.
But on Tuesday State Police spokesman Beau Duffy unequivocally denied the State Police own any of the ALPR cameras in the North Country except for a pair on the Northway in Pottersville.
"NYSP does not operate any ALPRs in Clinton, Franklin, St. Lawrence, Jefferson or Warren Counties," Duffy wrote.
When asked who does, Duffy answered: "We don't have that information. You'll have to check with the various local law enforcement agencies."
Three of the five counties the State Police spokesman told us to ask denied the ALPRs in their jurisdictions belonged to them: Jefferson, Warren and Franklin. Clinton County declined to comment, and St. Lawrence did not respond at all.
The steel arm from which a pair of ALPR surveillance cameras hung over State Road 30 near Paul Smiths, New York, before someone cut it down and stole the cameras. Photo cred: JB Nicholas.
Another pair of Motorola-made ALPR "FLOCK" cameras photograph the license plates of drivers traveling on State Route 9 in the Warren County town of Warrensburg.
The Warren County Sheriff's Department denies it belongs to Warren County.
"This LPR is not maintained by the Warren County Sheriff’s Office," Lt. Joshua Lopez wrote in an email Thursday morning, using the initial for "license plate reader" without "automatic."
"No data from this LPR is stored or collected by the Warren County Sheriff’s Office," Lt. Lopez added.
Lt. Lopez did not respond to a follow-up question asking to identify who the cameras belong to.
In Franklin County, at least 11 pairs of Motorola ALPR cameras spy on Americans.
When asked to state whether the 22 cameras belong to Franklin County, Franklin County Sheriff Jay Cook responded "The County or my office does not have anything to do with Flock Cameras."
Sheriff Cook did not respond to a follow-up question asking whether his denial included all ALPRs.
Once established in the North Country, it is likely Gov. Hochul with further expand the spy program to the rest of the state—unless state lawmakers in Albany stop her.
The secretive nature of Gov. Hochul's growing mass-surveillance program is fueling popular resistance.
Someone cut down the pair of Motorola ALPR cameras hanging over State Route 30 in Brighton, the ones in Adirondack Park, sometime in late August or the first four days of September.
After they cut the cameras down, the saboteur(s) cut the cameras themselves off the metal pole they had been hanging from and took them—presumably to dump into one of the many nearby ponds or rivers that fill this rugged, remote and beautiful area of the state.
As of press time, no one has been arrested for the theft, the State Police said.
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