Flock Cameras Are Watching You. But Who's Deciding?

Our Take

Midnight Lantern Archive puts its finger on the question that keeps coming up in this fight: it's not really about the cameras, it's about the decision-making vacuum around them. Flock Safety's pitch to city councils and police departments moves fast, often without the kind of public hearing or privacy impact review that a network capable of tracking every car's movement ought to require. By the time residents learn there's a camera on their street, the contract is usually already signed.

That's the pattern we track here daily. These systems don't ask for your consent, and in most towns, elected officials aren't asking many hard questions either — not about data retention, not about who else gets access, not about what happens when the vendor gets hacked or the data gets subpoenaed. A video like this matters because it pushes that conversation out of council chambers and into public view, where it belongs.

If you want to see how far this has spread in your own area, check our camera map, and if you're ready to push back at a city council meeting or public records request, our take-action page has the tools to get started.