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January 25, 2026 original broadcast on WQUD 107.7 FM — The conversation between River Cities’ Reader publisher Todd McGreevy and WQUD GM Aaron Dail begins in media res concerning Get The Flock Out!, Brooklyn Draisey’s contribution to Issue #1041 of the Reader.
Based on details Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) in Iowa: Review and Recommendations — ACLU of Iowa, released 10 December 2025, the ALPR tech developed by the American security company Flock Safety have a 10% rate of error in executing its task. One in ten motorists will be pulled over by police based on faulty, flimsy, or downright false info reported to them by the ALPRs.
The only thing the cameras can do with any consistency is gather data on the travel habits of motorists. That’s warrantless tracking. That’s invasion of privacy.
This is one of those things that shouldn’t be left buried in the small print. But here we are.
This violation is so egregious that members of the ACLU of Iowa and University of Iowa Technology Law Clinic have advised those communities who have contracts with Flock Safety to get out of them.
They didn’t say break them, necessarily. Or maybe they did. It’s somewhere there in the fine print. Happy hunting, flockers.
What’s even more enraging is the fact that 48 Iowan communities were contacted to provide info on the Flock Safety ALPRs. “According to Pete McRoberts, policy director at the ACLU of Iowa, “Many provided information but others refused to state how many cameras they operate and where. Some claimed information that is disproven by their own contracts. . .”
Incidentally, Scott County complied with the ACLU’s request, and it came out of the report with an excellent grade. (Way to go, Scott County!)
Everyone else who either ignored the request or complied and came up woefully short — hang your heads in shame. Kowtow to your emperor!
Dail may agree that the principles of free speech and civil rights are being transgressed, but he’s comparatively indifferent when it comes to the cameras’ actual existence. One sees his point: There are only so many hours out of the day one can commit to getting the whole story on such matters as this. That, however, should not be the default setting of the people who are tasked with monitoring the monitors. Kowtow!
So you know, David Stoner’s website and petition, https://gettheflockoutqc.com/, is unequivocal on the use of ALPRs in the Quad Cities: Nothing good can come of them.
Kathleen McCarthy’s story The Great Fanny-Pack Coup! takes the opportunity of the fifth anniversary of the 6 January “insurrection” to revisit the event and inspect the toppings of that great nothingburger served to the populace. Whether one can be perceived as suffering from Trump Derangement Disorder or Trump Adoration Affliction, the point cannot be ignored that the mainstream press has become hopelessly partisan in its coverage of modern-day politics.
That is not how traditional reporting is supposed to be. Kowtow!
It’s also useful to revisit One Iowan’s Hope from the J6 Ashes, Leo Kelly’s 7 January 2026 remembrance. Kelly was one of the protestors on-site at the time who wound up serving eleven months on, uhh, trumped-up charges. He is self-publishing his book HOPE: From the Ashes of Jan 6 at his website.
In case there are folks out there who say we’re a joyless clutch of I F Stones, they should know that we have a (to quote Giorgio de Chirico) kick-ass Art section as well as first-rate Movies and Music. These are reasons for living!