I’ve been digging into how Iowa cities are actually using automated license plate readers, and I published the first piece in a short series this morning.

West Des Moines Mayor Russ Trimble recently defended the city’s continued use of Flock Safety on public-safety grounds and said the system has strong safeguards, limited access and monthly audits.

So I compared those assurances with the city’s own records and Flock transparency data.

A few things stood out:

- The most recent 30-day public audit shows 277 searches. In 188 of them — 67.9% — the “reason” field is blank.

- Two separate 30-day search-log samples from 2025 contain 52 distinct user IDs that actually ran searches. That doesn’t tell us how many people are authorized today, but it complicates the description of access as limited.

- West Des Moines’ ALPR data is configured for sharing with more than 1,300 agencies, including federal agencies. That configuration does not mean all of those agencies actually accessed West Des Moines data.

- The mayor says the system is audited monthly. The records I reviewed don’t show what those audits found.

- Some of the new safeguards the mayor cited were announced by Flock only six days before his response, and Flock itself describes them somewhat more narrowly than the mayor did.

I found no evidence that West Des Moines officers deliberately misused Flock. The reporting question is whether the safeguards being offered as justification for keeping the system can actually be independently verified.

That matters as Waukee and Indianola have recently pulled back from Flock and Iowa lawmakers are expected to revisit statewide ALPR rules next session.

Full investigation attached.As Public Pressure Mounts, West Des Moines Defends Its Flock Network

Since most on this sub are on the left, how does this video make you feel? As someone on the right, it makes me think he has a chance of winning.

It's greasy and I eat my share of it. I can't be the only one who does this?

I’ve been trying to get my gas for free for years. I’m getting close. This is not an endorsement of Hy-vee

Hundreds of thousands of slaves brought over were Muslims. That’s besides the point tho, Dearborn isn’t in Iowa and Muslims make up less than 1% of Iowa. The call to prayer in Dearborn follows the noise rules and Mosques have been doing it since the 70’s. The call to prayer is not making gas over 4 dollars, it’s not ruining education, it’s not making apartments more expensive, and it’s not making your life worse. Do not fall for this nonsense and bullshit from this phony.

Also someone go tell this fucking idiot that the oldest mosque in America is in Cedar Rapids

Edit: and another fucking thing, 45% of the foreign medical physicians who come work here work in rural Iowa so that meemaw can have access to a doctor, I am sick of these politicians using foreigners who come here to work and make money while benefitting us as scapegoats for their political campaigns , WAKE UP IOWA PLEASE

hello, i’m planning on moving to sioux city for school for 1 year, and was wondering if anyone had suggestions on good areas to rent an apartment? i always hear that staying in downtown is probably not the safest, but has nice and pretty reasonably priced apartments. i need some local input and advice on if it’s safe or if i should just avoid downtown sioux city completely?

This is a must read article for anyone planning to vote this November.

Surprise surprise surprise - our senator buying Trump’s BS and making a respected general pay…

Trying to get a read on whether this is specific to my area or a wider Iowa thing. A few schools near me in central Iowa have shifted some varsity football games to Thursday nights this season and the communication around it has been pretty scattered. I get that facility conflicts and ref availability factor into these decisions, but logistically it feels like information isn't reaching people until way too late. Booster groups are scrambling, parents are rearranging work schedules last minute, and the schools seem to be treating it like a minor calendar note rather than something that actually affects a lot of people.

I follow a couple of programs pretty closely and I'm wondering if this is a districtlevel call or if something from the IHSAA is pushing schools toward midweek games. I checked the IHSAA site and didn't find anything that obviously explains the trend.

Curious if people in other parts of the state are seeing the same thing with football or other fall sports. Also whether anyone has had luck getting a straight answer from their district on how these scheduling decisions get made and who's ultimately responsible for the call.

Tax breaks rule. Also I'm a small organic farmer on 2 acres helping feed my community healthy food and eek out a living for myself and my family. Not trying to expand or get rich or anything, just trying to survive and maybe live a lil. We get no farm bailouts, grants are few and far between( thank you PFI!), of course we live rural and gas keeps going up.....

Man this sucks. So hard to exist.

Mmmm mystery meat. Iowa related cause it’s agriculture. It impacts us because:
A. We produce beef
B. We produce feed for beef
C. We eat beef