Ret. Capt. Joe Broadmeadow: Flock Cameras Aren’t the Problem—Lack of Rules Is
The short version: A retired police captain tells Chicago's Morning Answer that Flock cameras are fine if only we had better rules—we think that argument gets the burden of proof backwards.
Our Take
Ret. Capt. Joe Broadmeadow's pitch on Chicago's Morning Answer is a familiar one from law enforcement voices: the technology itself is neutral, and the real problem is a lack of policy guardrails. It's a comforting frame for anyone who wants to keep the cameras running while promising reform is always just around the corner. But "we just need better rules" has been the industry talking point since the first Flock pole went up, and in most jurisdictions those rules still don't exist, aren't enforced, or get quietly expanded the moment nobody's watching.
The problem with treating ALPR networks as a policy question rather than a surveillance question is that it assumes the capability is worth having in the first place, so long as we paper over it with an audit log and a retention schedule. Flock's own data-sharing architecture lets thousands of agencies query each other's camera feeds nationwide, which means your town's "rules" are only as good as the weakest link in a network you don't control and can't see. A captain's reassurance that cameras aren't the problem doesn't change the fact that a system capable of tracking every car's movement, with no judicial warrant required, is a problem by design, not just by neglect.
Before you trust that your city's policy is the exception, check whether a camera is already watching your street on our map, and if you want to push back on deployments near you, our take-action guide has concrete next steps.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Chicago's Morning Answer, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.