'DeFlock Milford' | Protestors rally outside of Milford City Hall over Flock cameras

Our Take

Credit to FOX 61 for putting a camera on what's becoming a familiar scene across the country: regular people showing up at City Hall because they're tired of being tracked every time they drive to work, church, or the pharmacy. Milford isn't a surveillance tech hub or a major metro — it's a mid-sized Connecticut city, and that's exactly the point. Flock Safety's pitch to small towns is always the same: a few cameras, a little grant money, some promise about catching stolen cars. What gets left out is the permanent, searchable record of everyone's movements that comes with it, shared with however many other agencies decide to tap in.

What's notable here isn't just that residents are upset — it's that they organized, showed up to a council meeting, and made their objections part of the public record. That's the playbook that actually works against this stuff. Flock doesn't survive sunlight well; most of these contracts get approved in meetings nobody attends, with little debate about retention periods, audit logs, or who else gets access to the data. Once residents start asking pointed questions in a packed room, city councils start sweating.

If you're in Milford or anywhere else wondering whether these cameras have already shown up on your street, check our map to see what's been documented near you. And if your city hasn't held its public meeting yet, don't wait for someone else to do the organizing — our take-action page has the tools to help you push back before the cameras go up, not after.