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Patrick McCarthy

Aug 19, 2026

12:59
Could you talk about why that happened?
13:01
Sure.
13:02
So around April and May of 2025, I had been following reporting from a really stellar digital publication, 404 Media, who's led so much of the developments in the license plate reader space.
13:20
And, you know, 404 broke that story about The Texas cops, who again had weaponized a statewide surveillance system to go after a woman seeking an abortion, all while framing it that they were looking after the woman's health and that it was a welfare check.
13:38
404 eventually also reported through internal emails that they had obtained that the police officers were brainstorming on what they could charge that woman with when they found her.
13:48
So it was never about her safety.
13:50
But those cops were able to search cameras across the nation.

9 MINS LATER

22:35
What has your reporting shown about the impact of these cameras? Have they had a measurable impact here on public safety?

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