Police Used Flock Cameras to Track Their Exes | Meet the Flockers Pt. 2
The short version: Mak-Tube's Chris Faraone exposes cops allegedly using Flock ALPR networks to stalk exes and partners, proving surveillance built for 'criminals' always gets turned on the rest of us.
Our Take
This is the part Flock's marketing never mentions: the same database that supposedly only flags stolen cars and Amber Alerts is also a searchable log of everywhere your ex, your neighbor, or your estranged spouse has driven. Chris Faraone's reporting in "Meet the Flockers" lays out what happens when that access gets misused for personal reasons instead of public safety — and it's not a hypothetical. Agencies across the country have quietly disciplined officers for running plates on people they had no business tracking, usually only after someone complained or a records request forced the issue into daylight.
The uncomfortable truth is that "audit logs" and "policy" are not the same thing as accountability. A system that lets any authorized user query months of vehicle movement nationwide is a stalking tool first and an investigative tool second, because abuse requires zero technical skill — just a login and a motive. Departments love to say misuse is rare, but rare isn't the same as zero, and the people harmed are rarely in a position to know it happened to them at all.
Credit to Mak-Tube for pushing this story past the usual "effective crime-fighting tool" press release. If you want to see how dense this surveillance net is in your own area, check our camera map, and if you're ready to push back on these systems locally, our take-action page has concrete steps.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Mak-Tube, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.