Here is what to know about 'Flock' cameras
The short version: The State offers a basic primer on Flock cameras, but local news explainers rarely ask who's watching the watchers or where your data goes.
Our Take
Local television explainers like this one from The State serve a purpose: they put Flock Safety and ALPRs on the radar of folks who've never noticed the camera on the pole at their intersection. That's valuable. But "here's what to know" segments almost always stop at the surface — cameras read plates, cops say it helps solve crimes, roll credits. What gets left out is just as important: how long that data sits in a database, who else can query it, and whether your city council ever actually voted to deploy this stuff in the first place.
We'd encourage anyone who watched this and thought "huh, didn't know that was happening near me" to go check our camera map and see just how dense this network already is in your area. Chances are it's more extensive than a two-minute news segment can convey, and chances are nobody asked you before it went up.
Awareness is step one. If this is news to you, it shouldn't stay that way — and it shouldn't stay passive either. Head over to our take-action page to find out how to push back at the local level, from records requests to council meetings.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of The State, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.