A modder has comically turned the city of Los Santos in Grand Theft Auto 5 into a surveillance state with 235 Flock ALPR cameras that players can, of course, destroy.
That’s right. Based on the current proliferation of ALPRs (Automatic License Plate Reader cameras) across the United States, the modder (username WTTDOTM) has added 235 of what he calls “GTALPRs” to the GTA 5 map.
“This number is 1/10th the amount of Flock ALPRS currently tracked by DeFlock.org in LA County, which GTA V is heavily based on,” he writes. “As players drive through the map, they are subjected to seemingly inescapable surveillance, with pictures taken of them every time they enter a new camera’s field of view.
“This makes the game much harder, as not only does police surveillance become nearly impossible to evade, but representing Flock’s own history of inaccurate reporting, every time a player passes through a camera’s field of view, the mod creates a 1 in 20 chance that the ALPR will trigger a police chase without any cause.”
He also added a few other bonus features that come along with adding 235 Flock cameras to Los Santos
The estimated market value of each component in a Flock camera in the game is $600, and players can purchase them after the camera is destroyed.
There are also numerous instances where the maps and camera locations in Los Santos and Los Angeles are nearly identical. One example is Muscle Beach & Muscle Sands.
Players can use the cameras to snap real photos, which they can later render and save. The images captured by the mod’s Flock cameras imitate Flock’s watermarking and overlays. Additionally, a player can create an album by taking pictures whenever they destroy a camera.
Additionally, an integrated speedrun feature tracks the number of cameras destroyed and the fastest time to eliminate 10, 50, or all of the cameras.
So, while chopping down Flock cameras and delivering them to police stations in real life is frowned upon in real life, at least we can take some solace in doing so in a fictional city online.
Plus, you won’t need to get 20,000 alibis from people whom you’ve never actually met to help prove your innocence.