'Modern-day policing': Local law enforcement share their work with flock cameras
The short version: KETV lets Omaha-area police call Flock cameras 'modern-day policing' while residents' privacy worries get a few seconds of airtime before the segment moves on.
Our Take
Credit to KETV NewsWatch 7 for at least airing the tension here, but this segment follows a script we've seen in local news markets across the country: police get several minutes to frame ALPR networks as an unambiguous crime-fighting win, while the people raising privacy concerns get a soundbite. "Used for criminal purposes only" is the line agencies always reach for, and it's worth remembering that's a policy promise, not a technical limitation. Flock's cameras don't know or care whether the plate they scan belongs to a burglary suspect or someone driving to a divorce attorney, a protest, or an out-of-state clinic. Every plate gets logged, timestamped, and stored, full stop.
"Both sides of the river" also matters more than the story lets on — when Omaha and Council Bluffs agencies share access to the same camera network, you get a de facto multi-state surveillance dragnet with no single jurisdiction's voters or council fully accountable for how it's used, audited, or eventually expanded. That's the pattern nationwide: cameras go up under a narrow pitch (stolen cars, Amber Alerts) and the data-sharing footprint quietly grows from there.
If you're in the Omaha-Council Bluffs metro, check our camera map to see what's already been installed near you, and if you want to push back on unchecked expansion, our take-action page has concrete steps for showing up at the next city council or county board meeting.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of KETV NewsWatch 7, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.