LEAKED LAW ENFORCEMENT POLICY SHOWS OFFICERS ARE BEING TOLD TO HIDE THEIR USE OF FLOCK CAMERAS
The short version: A YouTuber named Devin says leaked law enforcement guidance instructs officers to downplay or conceal Flock camera use — exactly the kind of secrecy that should worry anyone who cares about accountability.
Our Take
We haven't independently verified the document Devin is reporting on, so we'll stay cautious about the specifics. But the core claim — that officers may be coached to obscure how and when Flock Safety's ALPR network is used — fits a pattern we've seen again and again. Agencies love to tout these cameras as a transparent public-safety tool right up until someone asks for the data, the query logs, or the policy manual. Then suddenly it's "law enforcement sensitive."
That contradiction matters. Flock pitches itself as a partner in open, accountable policing, but if internal guidance tells cops to minimize public awareness of the system, that's not transparency — that's PR management. A camera network that scans every plate on a street, builds location histories, and gets shared across jurisdictions shouldn't operate on a need-to-know basis for the very public it's surveilling. Secrecy about use is how mission creep happens: today it's stolen cars, tomorrow it's immigration status, abortion travel, or protest attendance, and nobody outside the department even knows the capability exists.
Credit to Devin for digging into the paper trail — this is exactly the kind of document-level scrutiny this fight needs more of. If you want to see whether these cameras are already watching your own street, check our camera map, and if you want to push back on secretive deployments in your city, our take-action page has concrete steps.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Devin, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.