Some communities moving away from Flock cameras

Our Take

Credit to KCTV5 News for documenting something we've been tracking for a while: the Flock backlash isn't just internet noise, it's showing up in actual council votes and contract cancellations. When communities in both Kansas and Missouri start walking away from these systems in the same news cycle, that's not a coincidence — it's a trend line. The reporting also notes rising incidents of people physically tampering with or destroying cameras, which is a sign of just how frustrated some residents have gotten with surveillance infrastructure installed without much public input.

We don't endorse vandalism, but we understand the impulse. For years, Flock and its municipal partners sold these deployments as quiet, low-controversy public safety upgrades. Turns out plenty of taxpayers disagree once they learn their daily movements are being logged, stored, and shared across a nationwide network they never voted on. Local elected officials pulling contracts is the legitimate version of that same frustration — it means residents showed up, asked questions, and made noncompliance the politically safer choice.

If your town hasn't had that conversation yet, it's worth starting one. Check our camera map to see what's already been deployed near you, and hit up our take-action page for tools to bring this issue to your own city council before the cameras show up first and the debate happens after the fact.