You’ve probably heard about all the Automatic License Plate Reader cameras being installed around the Bay Area, 400 new ones in San Francisco, almost 400 in Oakland and on state highways in the East Bay, dozens more in cities from Alameda to Palo Alto.

These are not video surveillance cameras, they are cameras that capture license plate and vehicle data, to help police agencies track down stolen cars and cars involved in crimes. Neighborhood associations are also embracing them, installing them on their own, but some people and organizations have raised concerns, from worries about privacy to the fear of creating a surveillance state, to concerns about racial profiling and the misuse of the data.

For more on this KCBS Radio's Political Reporter Doug Sovern spoke with Holly Beilin with Flock Safety, a private company based in Atlanta that’s become the leader in this industry since it was founded just seven years ago. It is providing most of the cameras for this new surveillance network across the Bay Area, it has the contracts with San Francisco, the state of California and many neighborhood groups, including the one in my own neighborhood in Oakland.