Police across the country arrested for abusing Flock camera amid nationwide scrutiny

Our Take

Credit to NewsNation's 'On Balance' for putting a sitting sheriff in the hot seat over something departments usually try to bury: cops abusing the very surveillance tools they swore would only ever be used for 'serious crimes.' When Volusia County Sheriff Michael Chitwood shows up to defend Flock cameras in the same breath as a segment about officers nationwide getting arrested for misusing them, that's not a coincidence — that's the pattern finally catching up with the sales pitch.

This is the core problem with ALPR networks like Flock: they're built on trust, not accountability. Every camera logs your plate, your location, your movements — and the guardrails against misuse are internal policies, audit logs nobody outside the department ever sees, and the honor system. When the people holding the keys are the same people getting arrested for stalking exes, running plates for personal favors, or feeding data to people who have no business having it, 'trust us' stops being a policy — it's a liability.

Sheriffs going on cable news to defend the technology isn't reassurance, it's damage control. If you want to know how many of these cameras are watching your own neighborhood, check our camera map, and if you're ready to push back on unchecked ALPR deployment where you live, our take-action page has next steps.