York officials plan public meeting to review police use of AI-powered cameras in high-traffic areas. Some question how data is used.

A federal judge in Chicago on Thursday said she is “profoundly concerned” that immigration agents are violating her orders restricting the use of tear gas on media and protesters and ordered the field director for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement into court to answer questions.

YORK (WGME) -- The York Police Department has four automatic license plate recognition cameras throughout the town, which officers say have significantly aided in solving crimes over the past year and a half. The Flock Safety cameras capture and store data such as license plate numbers and the make, model and color of passing vehicles.

Security cameras are everywhere in schools, but too often the devices are not used in smart, effective ways. Cameras frequently are improperly installed and don’t work, they are poorly maintained, or they are used in ways that undermine trust between educators and students, experts point out.

Matthew Guariglia, senior policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), told Ars via email that Flock is a “mass surveillance tool” that “has increasingly been used to spy on both immigrants and people exercising their First Amendment-protected rights.”

The decision came less than a week after the city council unanimously asked city manager Sarah Medary to pause using the cameras, owned by private company Flock Safety, until they could discuss privacy and civil rights concerns.

Body camera use in Atlanta police dispatch calls jumped from 33% in 2018 to 88% in 2025, a more than 50% increase. Police Chief Darin Schierbaum says body cameras have transformed law enforcement by improving accountability, investigations, and public trust.

The ruling marked the first time a Virginia higher court has weighed in on Flock Safety cameras that have dramatically increase in usage over the past few years.