Installing a Flock camera with an unmarked car. Austell, Georgia.
The short version: A YouTuber named Orwell Day films Flock contractors quietly installing a camera from an unmarked vehicle in Austell, Georgia, raising fresh questions about public notice and consent.
Our Take
Credit to the creator behind Orwell Day for catching this on camera: a license plate reader going up in Austell, Georgia, courtesy of an unmarked vehicle. No city logo, no visible signage, no obvious heads-up to the people who live and drive through that intersection. Just quiet installation of permanent surveillance infrastructure on a public street.
This is the pattern we keep seeing across the country. Flock Safety pitches itself as a community partner, but the actual rollout often looks like something closer to stealth deployment — vendors and contractors doing the work with little fanfare, while residents find out only after the cameras are already logging their plates, their routes, their patterns of life. Who approved this location? Was there a council vote, a public comment period, any chance for pushback? When the installation itself is unmarked, it's fair to ask whether transparency was ever part of the plan.
Every camera like this one adds to a nationwide grid that tracks ordinary people who've done nothing wrong. If you want to know what's been installed near you, check our camera map, and if you'd rather not wait to spot an unmarked car in your own neighborhood, see our take-action resources for how to push back before the next camera goes up.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Orwell Day, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.