Grants police discontinue Flock Safety cameras over privacy concerns
The short version: Grants, New Mexico police pulled the plug on Flock Safety cameras after one resident's privacy complaint forced the city to rethink its surveillance posture.
Our Take
Credit to KOAT Action 7 News for catching something that should happen far more often: a city actually reversing course on Flock Safety once a resident pushed back. It reportedly took one person raising privacy concerns to get the Grants Police Department to discontinue its ALPR program and reassess. That's the system working the way it's supposed to, but it also shows how thin the guardrails are — in most towns, a single council vote with zero public debate is how these networks get installed in the first place.
What makes this notable is that it didn't take a lawsuit or a data breach to trigger a rethink, just a citizen asking hard questions about what's being collected, who can access it, and why a small-town police department needs a rolling log of every car that passes through. That's the same question we'd encourage every resident to ask before their city signs a Flock contract, not after the cameras are already bolted to the pole.
Grants is proof that these decisions aren't permanent once made — public pressure can actually get a camera network pulled back out. Check our map to see what's already deployed near you, and if you want to push your own city to reconsider, our take-action page has the tools to get started.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of KOAT, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.