'There is room for surveillance': Maine gubernatorial candidates weigh in on Flock cameras

Our Take

Credit to CBS13 News for getting Maine's gubernatorial hopefuls on record about Flock Safety cameras, because the quote that made the headline — 'there is room for surveillance' — is exactly the kind of mushy non-answer that lets this technology keep spreading unchecked. When at least three southern Maine towns have already pulled the plug on their Flock contracts, that's not a footnote. That's a signal that elected officials closer to the ground are finding real problems with how these camera networks operate, who can access the data, and whether any of it actually makes communities safer.

What's telling is the gap between local reality and state-level political caution. Town councils are canceling contracts while candidates for the state's highest office are still testing out soundbites that try to please everyone. That's how mass surveillance infrastructure gets normalized — not through a single dramatic vote, but through politicians avoiding the hard questions about retention periods, data sharing with out-of-state agencies, and whether any of this requires a warrant. Maine voters deserve candidates willing to say where they actually stand, not just that there's 'room' for a technology that tracks every car on the road.

If you want to see whether Flock cameras have shown up in your own town, check our camera map, and if you're ready to push back the way these Maine towns did, our take-action page has the tools to start that fight locally.