Milford police chief responds to image in Flock Safety promotional video
The short version: A Milford police chief had to publicly address why his likeness showed up in a Flock Safety ad, raising fresh questions about how cozy law enforcement and ALPR vendors really are.
Our Take
Credit to WFSB 3 for pressing Milford Police Chief Keith Mello on how his image ended up in Flock Safety's own marketing material. Whether it was a casual mix-up or something more deliberate, the optics are bad: a surveillance vendor using a sitting police chief's face to sell its product blurs the line between public safety messaging and corporate promotion. That's not a good look for a company whose cameras are already quietly scanning plates on roads across the country.
This kind of entanglement is exactly why we keep pushing for transparency. When police departments become de facto brand ambassadors for ALPR companies, taxpayers deserve to know what's being exchanged — discounted hardware, data-sharing perks, or just good PR. Small moments like this one are worth watching closely, because they reveal how normalized this surveillance infrastructure has become in everyday policing and advertising alike.
If you want to see how many of these cameras are already watching your own neighborhood, check out our camera map, and if you're ready to push back, our take-action page has steps you can take locally.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of WFSB 3, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.