South Carolina is fighting back against Flock cameras

Our Take

Credit to South Carolina Secrets for putting a camera on something most outlets ignore: the slow-burn resentment building in small towns where Flock Safety cameras got installed with little public debate. Pageland is a tiny place, but the frustration described in this report isn't unique to it. Across the country, town councils approve these contracts in a single meeting, vendors promise a crime-fighting silver bullet, and residents only notice the cameras after they're already bolted to the pole and feeding data into a network they never voted on.

What's notable here isn't just that people are upset — it's how upset. When a community's opposition escalates to the point of talking about tampering with hardware, that's a signal local officials failed to do the basic work of explaining what these cameras capture, who can access the footage, and how long it's retained. Flock's own retention and sharing policies have raised red flags nationwide, and rural towns often have even less oversight capacity than big cities to audit misuse once the system is live.

If you're in a town facing this same rollout, you don't have to wait for things to boil over. Check our camera map to see what's already been deployed near you, and use our take-action resources to push for transparency before the cameras go up, not after your neighbors start talking about taking matters into their own hands.