Cities are replacing Flock's automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras with Axon's equivalent cameras, largely due to 404 Media's coverage of local cops performing lookups in Flock for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and a Texas cop searching Flock cameras nationwide for a woman who self-administered an abortion. This raises questions: what are cities and law enforcement agencies using Axon ALPRs for, and who are they sharing that data with? 404 Media has started to find out but needs help from local residents.

404 Media has filed requests with various cities and police departments for Axon "activity reports" and "sharing reports." These show when an officer searched Axon's ALPRs, the officer's name, badge number, license plate reached, and the stated reason. So far, reports have been obtained from the Benton County Sheriff's Office, WA; Falmouth Police Department, ME; Johns Creek Police Department, GA; Ocean Shores Police Department, WA; Pleasanton Police Department, TX; and Red Wing Police Department, MN.

But we need your help. Has your local police department or city switched to Axon ALPR cameras? Were they already using Axon? And do you want to know what they're using those cameras for? We're asking interested readers to file a public records request. You can copy the language provided, tweak it to apply to your state, then file the request with the relevant agency. You can do this by finding their public records request email address or by filing through Muckrock. If you file a request and get data back, please email it to us at [email protected].