Missouri taking aim at Flock cameras

Our Take

Credit to KCTV5 News for covering a fight that's playing out in state capitols across the country: lawmakers trying to catch up to technology that's already blanketing their streets. Missouri joining the list of states debating real limits on Flock Safety cameras is a sign that "just trust the police department's policy" isn't cutting it anymore for a lot of voters and legislators.

The tension in this story is the same one we see everywhere Flock operates — law enforcement wants the data and the convenience, and they'll argue any guardrail is an obstacle to solving crime. But a camera network that logs every car's movements, timestamped and searchable, is a different animal than a single squad car running plates. Without audit trails, retention limits, and hard restrictions on who can query the system and why, these networks become exactly the kind of mass surveillance infrastructure that's ripe for abuse, mission creep, and data breaches.

Missouri residents don't have to wait on Jefferson City to find out if they're already being tracked — check our camera map to see what's near you, and if you want to push your own city council or state legislature toward real accountability, our take action page has the tools to get started.