A wave of public backlash is pulling Flock's license plate reader cameras off streets nationwide. But in many communities, surveillance isn't ending and cameras are actually just changing brands.

As cities cancel their contracts with Flock Safety, more are hiring Axon instead. They are another law enforcement technology company that installs cameras that scan and track passing vehicles much as Flock cameras do, and they lack the public attention that Flock has received over the course of the past few months.

That trend has even reached the Florida Department of Transportation. They ordered all license plate readers removed from state roads on Aug. 31, revoking permits for Flock, Axon and Motorola cameras alike and giving agencies 30 days to take them down.

The order affects hundreds of cameras and marks the first time a state has pulled the entire category off its roads rather than leaving the choice to individual cities.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican who has pushed for what he calls an artificial intelligence bill of rights, told attendees at a Florida International University event in late August: "I don't want to have this become a surveillance state."

Elsewhere, the pattern has been to switch providers rather than remove the cameras.

Denver is the most documented example. The city let its Flock contract lapse amid controversy over the company's data-sharing practices, then approved a new agreement with Axon in a narrow 7-6 city council vote in March. The deal cut the number of cameras from 111 to 50.

The Marine Corps confirmed a five-year growth plan that adds more than 6,500 billets across infantry battalions, drone units, air defenses, and new occupational specialties. The extra structure is meant to staff the systems the Corps has already bought and the units it is still building.

A Sept. 1 statement from Marine Corps Combat Development and Integration laid out the Force Structure Review in public for the first time. The service said it has an executable plan for 4 percent end-strength growth by 2031 and assessed another 1 percent the following year.

Those Marines will be spread across 64 initiatives. The announcement follows earlier reporting on a 4 to 5 percent growth target and turns that target into named billets, schoolhouses, and companies.

For Marines already in uniform, the plan is less about a bigger Corps on paper and more about who sits in which seat. Infantry battalions get more gunners and scouts. Each Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) gets a robotics company. Installations get dedicated counter-drone structure. School of Infantry-West gets a second small-drone schoolhouse. Recruiters get more manpower to fill the extra contracts.