Surveillance & LPR glossary

• License Plate Reader (LPR / ALPR) — A camera system that automatically photographs vehicle license plates and converts them to searchable text, location, and timestamp records.
• Flock Safety — A private surveillance company that sells solar-powered LPR cameras to police departments, HOAs, and private businesses across the U.S.
• Opting out of LPR surveillance — Practical and legal options for reducing your exposure to license plate readers — and the limits of what "opting out" actually means.
• Public records requests for surveillance data — How to use state open-records laws to compel disclosure of LPR contracts, retention policies, hot lists, and audit logs.
• Hot list — A list of license plates flagged for automatic alerts when seen by an LPR — used for stolen vehicles, AMBER Alerts, and active investigations.
• Data retention — How long captured plate reads are stored — the single most important policy lever for LPR oversight.
• CCTV (Closed-Circuit Television) — Traditional video surveillance cameras — distinct from LPRs because they record continuous video rather than structured plate metadata.
• Gunshot detection — Acoustic sensor networks that triangulate gunshots and dispatch police — frequently bundled with LPR camera deployments.