Not just Flock: AI-powered surveillance is becoming more common in Maine
Artificial intelligence is reshaping surveillance across Maine, from highway shoulders to grocery store parking lots, as automated license plate readers, AI-equipped trailer cameras and worksite monitoring systems spread to dozens of communities with little public debate.
At least 18 Maine towns and cities have deployed or previously used ALPR technology, according to public records, with Lewiston operating 14 Flock cameras—the highest concentration in the state. Other systems include LiveView Technologies “lot cops” in Hannaford, Circle K and Walmart parking lots, Hanwha Vision cameras in Portland’s Arts District garage, and Sensera construction cameras that flag safety violations. Even private property has entered the arena: Cliff House Maine in Cape Neddick hosts Flock cameras on its lampposts, and the University of Southern Maine contracts with ParkEngage for ALPR parking enforcement.
State law prohibits private companies from scanning license plates and mandates that law enforcement delete ALPR data after 21 days, but gaps remain. Brewer police unknowingly violated data-retention rules this week, and Idexx Laboratories removed suspected ALPR cameras from Westbrook and Scarborough properties in June after a Press Herald inquiry—cameras that an ACLU policy fellow identified as Genetec Cloudrunners.
“Law enforcement is allowed to collect all of these databases, put it in one place so that they essentially have a panopticon at their fingertips,” said Sidney Thaxter, senior litigator for the Fourth Amendment Center at the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. “They were never given the option. There was never a vote.”
Police officials defend the tools. Falmouth Deputy Chief Jeffrey Pardue called them targeted investigative aids, and Lewiston Sgt. Joey Brown emphasized, “It’s not a video camera. There’s no live feed… it’s not like this crazy superpower.” The Maine Chiefs of Police Association’s Scott Stewart urged departments to pair technology with protocols that protect rights.
Yet abuse elsewhere has fueled concern. Officers in Georgia and Texas face allegations of using Flock cameras to stalk ex-partners and locate a woman seeking an abortion. In Colorado and New Mexico, misread plates led to mistaken detentions of a family and a 12-year-old girl. Maine has documented no such abuses to date.
Public pushback is growing. South Portland’s City Council voted in June to cancel its Flock contract, cameras were removed weeks later, and resident Lucy Perkins is now running for the Legislature to carry the fight statewide. York voters will decide in November whether to ban ALPRs and require public approval for future surveillance. Gorham is weighing a ban, Sanford reversed its installation plan last fall after community outcry, and Auburn legislators have gathered nearly 2,000 signatures on a petition to end Flock use there.
Republican Rep. David Boyer of Poland framed the debate in fundamental terms: “You can’t have freedom without privacy.”
With no federal ALPR statute and state law struggling to keep pace, advocates say Mainers may be the last line of defense. “People are aware that government may not get it right,” Boyer said, “that the law could be abused and misused and targeted at different people.”
Matthew Guariglia of the Electronic Frontier Foundation warned of a broader shift: “The emerging trend… is in the fusion of a hundred different data streams… and the digestion and analysis of all of that information together by AI.”
