Flock cameras are not a substitute for local laws #alpr #automatedlicenseplatereader #privacy
The short version: NYCLU's short video makes a sharp point: Flock's marketing can't replace the local laws communities need to actually govern ALPR surveillance.
Our Take
Credit to the NYCLU for keeping this simple: a camera network is not a policy. Flock Safety loves to tell city councils that its system comes with built-in safeguards — audit trails, data retention limits, access controls — but those are vendor defaults, not enforceable law. A company can change its terms of service whenever it wants. A local ordinance, passed by elected officials and open to public amendment, is a different animal entirely.
This distinction matters because most towns that adopt Flock never pass a standalone surveillance ordinance at all. They just sign a contract and let the vendor's privacy policy stand in for democratic oversight. That's backwards. The people who have to live with a permanent record of their movements deserve rules written by their own representatives, not by a surveillance company's legal department, and those rules need teeth: audits, public reporting, and real consequences for misuse.
If you want to see whether your community already has Flock cameras watching its roads, check our map. And if your town hasn't put real, enforceable limits on how this data is collected, shared, and stored, our take-action page has the tools to push your local government to do it right.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of NYCLU, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.