AI FLOCK CAMERAS | NOTHING TO HIDE

Our Take

Credit to Jen's Two Cents for doing what most local coverage won't: bringing in an actual privacy expert instead of just quoting a police chief's press release. Jake Wiener of EPIC lays out the thing Flock Safety's marketing conveniently glosses over — these cameras aren't just reading plates, they're building a searchable record of vehicle make, color, bumper stickers, dents, and travel patterns for every single person who drives through, whether they're suspected of anything or not.

The 'nothing to hide' line gets trotted out every time a city council debates adding more ALPRs, and it's always framed like it settles the argument. It doesn't. The point isn't whether you're hiding something — it's whether a private company and a patchwork of agencies should get to assemble a timestamped movement history on every resident, passenger included, with little oversight on who accesses it or how long it sits in a database. That's a policy choice, not an inevitability, no matter how many officials shrug and call it 'just part of today's world.'

If you're in the West Valley or anywhere else wondering what's actually watching your commute, check our camera map to see what's nearby, and visit take action for ways to push back at the local level before this becomes even more normalized.