13 Action News Big Story: The fight for and against Flock
The short version: A Michigan community and Toledo officials are both weighing Flock ALPR deals this week, and 13 Action News captures the local fight over surveillance versus safety.
Our Take
Credit to 13 Action News (WTVG) in Toledo for putting a camera on what's becoming a familiar ritual across the country: a city council or township board facing a vote on whether to let Flock Safety blanket their streets with automated license plate readers. The report notes a southeast Michigan community voting Monday with Toledo close behind — a reminder that these decisions are happening fast, often back-to-back, with little time for residents to weigh in before contracts get signed.
What rarely makes it into the five-minute segment is the paper trail these systems leave behind. Every plate scanned becomes a data point, stored and potentially shared with other agencies, regardless of whether the driver is suspected of anything. The 'fight for and against' framing is accurate — there genuinely are two sides — but the burden of proof should sit with the agencies asking to track every car that passes through town, not with the residents asking basic questions about retention, access, and oversight.
If you live near Toledo or anywhere else, check our camera map to see what's already been deployed nearby, and if a vote is coming up in your town, our take-action page has tools to help you show up and ask the hard questions before the cameras go in.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of WTVG 13 Action News | Toledo, OH, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.