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ARRESTED Over a Flock Camera in Port Orange

Daytona Beach Lawyer · 2 months ago

The short version: A Port Orange arrest over a damaged Flock camera shows why vandalism undercuts the legal fight against ALPR surveillance, says Daytona Beach Lawyer Patrick McGeehan.

Our Take

Attorney Patrick McGeehan, who runs the Daytona Beach Lawyer channel, is covering an arrest tied to damage done to a Flock Safety camera in Port Orange, Florida. He's been openly critical of ALPR surveillance himself, but he draws a hard line between organizing, filing public records requests, showing up at city council meetings, and actually taking a camera offline with your hands. That distinction matters, and we're glad to see a lawyer make it plainly instead of either cheering vandalism or pretending these cameras are beyond reproach.

The uncomfortable truth is that frustration with Flock is boiling over in a lot of towns, not just Port Orange. People feel like these networks got installed with little public debate and even less oversight, and when the normal channels feel closed off, some folks reach for a wrench instead of a microphone. We understand the impulse, but criminal charges don't slow down a surveillance rollout — they just hand local officials a distraction from the real question, which is whether blanket plate tracking belongs in their city at all.

That's the fight worth having, and it's won in council chambers, public comment periods, and open-records requests, not in the dark with a crowbar. If you want to know whether Flock or other ALPR systems are already watching your streets, check our camera map, and if you're ready to push back the right way, our take-action guide has the tools to do it without putting yourself in cuffs.

This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Daytona Beach Lawyer, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.