UPSTATE NEW YORK TOWN HAS NO IDEA WHO PUT A 'FLOCK' CAMERA ON MAIN STREET
A PAIR OF LICENSE PLATE TRACKING CAMERAS HAVE BEEN ON STATE ROUTE 9 IN WARRENSBURG, NY FOR YEARS. NO ONE KNOWS WHO PUT THEM THERE OR WHY AND THE GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS WHO KNOW WON'T SAY
A pair of “FLOCK” cameras on State Route 9 in Warrensburg, New York, Oct. 1, 2026. The cameras are identical to more than 75 deployed in at least 35 locations in northern New York, including these in Warren count as well as Essex, Clinton, Franklin, St. Lawrence and Jefferson counties. No government official—federal, state, county or local—wants to say who out the cameras up and, just as importantly, who controls the datebase of information the cameras collect. Photo credit: JB Nicholas.
MALONE, NEW YORK OCT. 2, 2026
PART 7 OF A SERIES
There's been a pair of “FLOCK” mass-surveillance cameras on Main Street in Warrensburg for years. No one knows who put them there, or why, and the officials who do know won't say.
"At least five or six years. At least," is how long they've been there, Ricky Humiston, 67, told The Free Lance News on Tuesday.
Like most people we spoke to, Humiston has no idea who put the license plate tracking cameras there, where the data they collect goes or what that datebase is used for.
"I'm not sure who owns it," Humiston said. "I don't know what they're used for.”
A 20-something woman who declined to share her name but who lives in the trailer park next to where the cameras are also said the cameras have been there for years.
"They've been there as long as I've lived here," she said. "Since I was young. When we used to walk to McDonalds they were always there."
The twin pair of cameras hang from a utility pole on State Route 9 on the north side of the bridge over the Schroon River. The Town of Warrensburg calls the road "Main Street."
Area resident John Peters, like Humiston, also said the cameras had been in Warrensburg for "at least five years." Peters thought they might have been installed "a little bit before" 2020.
Like Humiston and many others, Peters said he had "no idea" what the cameras do or who or what government agency installed them.
He speculated: "State I could imagine. It's on Route 9. That's a State road."
The “FLOCK” cameras in Warrensburg, New York belong to a growing network of cameras in northerm New York. These are partially concealed by a large oak tree next to a bridge passing over the Schroon River. Photo credit: JB Nicholas.
Warrensburg Town officials denied the cameras belong to the town.
"As per our Town IT coordinator we do NOT have or have NEVER had FLOCK, LPR, ALPR cameras," Warrensburg Town Clerk Pamela M. Lloyd told The Free Lance News in an email dated Aug. 13.
"No other records were found per your Foil Request," Lloyd added, referring to our Freedom of Information request for town records related to the cameras.
When we pointed out the pair of cameras on Main Street, Lloyd replied "The NYS DOT takes care of Main Street (Route 9) along with National Grid. So, Maybe they put it up. I was informed that The Town of Warrensburg Highway dept did not."
The cameras are formally known as "automated license plate readers." ALPRs for short or just LPRs. Because FLOCK dominates the domestic market for automated license plate reading cameras, FLOCK has become synonymous with the technology. Many other companies make the cameras including Motorola, which made the “FLOCK” cameras in Warrensburg.
All "FLOCK" cameras, whatever corporation manufactures them, capture far more than just the license plates of vehicles that pass by. They also capture the model, make, year, color, missing or covered license plates and other individualized features like roof racks, bumper stickers and dents.
The database of raw information ALPR or LPR cameras create with all this information is searchable and sharable. Police are pairing the databases with predictive Artificial Intelligence to label citizens suspected criminals and single them out for extra law enforcement scrutiny, the Associated Press reported last November.
Yet, Warrensburg residents appear to never have been consulted about the powerful mass-surveillance devices deployed in their town.
In 2014, the Warren County legislature, called the "Board of Supervisors," retro-actively ratified the Warren County Sheriff's unilateral decision to sign an agreement with the state Division of Criminal Justice Services "for fixed and mobile license plate readers."
But the current Warren County Sheriff, Jim LaFarr, denied the cameras in Warrensburg belonged to his department.
"This LPR is not maintained by the Warren County Sheriff’s Office," Lt. Joshua Lopez, a spokesman for Sheriff LaFarr, wrote in a Sept. 17 email. "No data from this LPR is stored or collected by the Warren County Sheriff’s Office."
Lt. Lopez did not respond to a follow-up question asking to identify who the cameras belong to.
John O'Neil, Town Supervisor for Stony Creek and a current voting member of Warren County Board of Supervisors, told The Free Lance News that back then "The idea was to get them for the police cars. The one on the proposal for the police cars and SUVs."
O'Neil said he has no idea who put up the cameras in Warrensburg and, just as importantly, where the information they collect goes.
"Who owns these cameras?," O'Neil asked. "Who gets the information that the cameras collect?"
O'Neil had long-assumed the cameras belonged to the New York State Police.
"They're literally the leading law enforcement agency in this area," O'Neil said. "I would say it belongs to the State of New York."
Matthew W. Green, a supervisor for the New York State Department of Transportation who works at the Department of Transportation garage in Warrensburg, also thought the cameras belonged to the State Police.
"These are State Police," Green told The Free Lance News on Wednesday. "They are State Police license plate readers."
However, a spokesman for the New York State Police denied they deployed the cameras in Warrensburg. The spokesman did, however, say the State Police have access to the database of information the cameras collect.
The spokesman refused to say who put the cameras in Warrensburg or who maintains that database.
Permission from the governor's administration was required to deploy the network, and is continuously required to keep it in place. Gov. Kathy Hochul's press office has repeatedly ignored requests to clarify who is installing the network, who controls the network and who has access to the enormous database of personal information of millions of Americans the network collects and exploits.
Green, the DOT supervisor, told us the cameras would need a permit to be installed so we contacted the transportation department's main office in Albany to find out if a permit had been issued and, if so, to who or what agency.
A DOT spokesman refused to answer questions about the cameras and told us to file a public records request pursuant to New York's Freedom of Information law.
We did that. We also called another DOT official to see how long it would take to get the records. At least "several months" was the answer.
State agencies routinely take at least several months if not years to fulfill public records requests to prevent reporting on and public discussion of things the State would rather not explain or defend. State agencies intentionally underfund, understaff and unlawfully block public record requests. A bill to strengthen New York's Freedom of Information Law was vetoed by Gov. Kathy Hochul in 2025.
The cameras in Warrensburg belong to a network of more than 79 license plate tracking cameras deployed in at least 38 locations throughout northern New York. The network has cacmers not just in Warren county but in Essex, Clinton, Franklin, St. Lawrence, Essex and Jefferson counties as well. All the ALPR or LPR cameras in the network are made by Motorola and are deployed in pairs, like the ones in Warrensburg.
This mass-surveillance network in the North Country is continually expanding, with several new cameras deployed in the last few months.
The "FLOCK" surveillance network throughout northern New York is the result of a collaboration between Pres. Donald Trump and Gov. Hochul. The network appears to belong to both US Customs and Border Protection and the New York State Police, as first reported by The Free Lance News. The Federal government is also paying counties to deploy FLOCK cameras.
A spokesman for US Customs and Border Protection previously did not deny it is part of the network. In fact, the spokesman strongly suggested it was.
"US Customs and Border Protection utilizes a variety of tools, technologies, and intelligence-driven strategies to secure our borders," 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 cameras do at least partially belong to the Border Patrol, they represent an expansion of the agency's territory. The agency claims the power to conduct warrantless mass surveillance up to a 100 miles from the nearest international border. The Canadian border is the closest international border to Warrensburg, but it's 105 miles away due north as the crow flies.
O'Neil, the Warren County legislator, said he was going to get to bottom of the mysterious cameras.
"It concerns me," O'Neil said. "I'm going to bring it up."
"I can tell you that myself and the Town of Stony Creek are against FLOCK cameras like this," O'Neil added. "Over 80% of my constituents say 'no way' to public surveillance."
Send tips or corrections to jasonbnicholas@gmail.com or, if you prefer, thefreelancenews@proton.me