Franklin County Sheriff's Office investigating deputy's use of Flock camera system
The short version: A Franklin County deputy's alleged misuse of Flock ALPR data is forcing a sheriff's office review — exactly the kind of abuse critics have warned about all along.
Our Take
WBNS 10TV reports that the Franklin County Sheriff's Office is now reviewing how its Flock Safety camera network is being used after an internal investigation into a deputy. The department hasn't released much detail yet, but the fact that this review is happening at all confirms something we've said for years: these systems are only as trustworthy as the access controls and audit logs behind them, and departments rarely build those guardrails before deploying hundreds of cameras across a county.
Flock's pitch to local governments is always about solving crimes faster, but the quieter story is how easy it becomes for anyone with a login to search plates for reasons that have nothing to do with an active case — an ex's new boyfriend, a personal grudge, idle curiosity. Audits after the fact don't undo the privacy violation; they just tell you it already happened. That's the core problem with blanket ALPR surveillance of everyday movement: the abuse potential isn't hypothetical, it's structural.
If you want to see how saturated your own area is with these cameras, check our map, and if you think your city council or sheriff needs to answer harder questions about oversight before the next contract renewal, our take-action page has tools to help you push back.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of WBNS 10TV, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.