Who Approved This tracks Flock Safety contracts, the license plate reader deals that mostly pass without public attention. The question in the site’s name is literal: for every camera network, someone approved it, and the record should say who.
What the site holds
1,044 contract records across 48 states as of October 13, 2026, with $165.0 million in documented public spending, 633 camera counts, 156 roll calls with names, and 332 documented endings. Every record cites its sources, and the whole dataset exports as CSV and JSON.
The milestones
The tracker holds 1,044 records as of October 13, 2026. The site’s own posts and corrections log date 3 earlier counts: 122 records on July 16, 2026, 227 on July 24, and 264 on August 5, after 2 duplicate pairs were merged. How the tracker grew covers what each stage showed. The roll call census counts the votes with names, the state law explainer shows 1 Washington statute producing opposite outcomes on 3 records, and the campus post covers the records where nobody voted at all.
The 3 states without a record
Alaska, Hawaii and Montana have no records. Searches in Montana found only privately owned cameras, and no source confirms Flock as the vendor in Anchorage or Honolulu. A state joins the map when a verifiable record exists.
The update rhythm
Records update when councils vote and the documents publish. The updates page lists every post, and the homepage clock counts down scheduled votes and contract end dates. Journals get rechecked until names publish. As of September 24, 2026, the Cleveland record names the 6 no votes on the July 15, 2026 extension and lists the 9 yes votes as not named in its sources.
Corrections and contact
The methodology page holds the full sourcing standard. If a record is wrong, the corrections page explains how we fix it. If your city is missing, send the record: a good tip with a source usually becomes a record within days.
How a record gets made
A record starts with a document, not a tip. The strongest are council minutes that carry a tally and names, like Choctaw, Oklahoma, where the July 21, 2026 minutes record a 6 to 1 vote to extend and list all 7 members. Next best are resolutions with figures, like Dallas resolution 25-0807, which names the fund split down to the dollar. Weakest but still usable are agency transparency pages, like Chesapeake, Virginia, which publishes a 64-camera count with no approval record attached, so the record says exactly that.
Some contracts leave almost no trail. Richmond bought its system through a procurement vendor with no council vote, so the record has no approving body to name. The record says so and leaves the approving body blank.
What this site will not publish
No home addresses, no personal details about officials beyond the votes they cast in public, and no characterization of a document nobody here has read. No predictions about how a council will vote. No unsourced tips, however plausible. When 2 sources conflict, the record shows both and says which one it uses: the Norfolk record carries a 172-camera deployment figure alongside a portal that lists 175, and explains the choice.
Money and independence
The site carries no advertising, no sponsored placements, and no third-party ad trackers, which the privacy page documents in detail. Nothing on a record page is influenced by who is named in it. If that ever changes, this page will say so before anything else does.
Reaching a human
2 routes, both read by a person. Use the corrections page if something on a record is wrong, and the submit page if a city is missing. Both work best with a link to the document. Reporters on deadline should start with the press page, which sets out what can be confirmed and how fast.