Let's Detect Some Flock Cameras! #esp32 #electronics #DIY #ble

Our Take

Credit to creator deamonmist for tinkering with something genuinely useful: using cheap ESP32 hardware and Bluetooth Low Energy scanning to sniff out the presence of Flock Safety cameras in the wild. We don't know the full technical details yet since this is a short-form build video, but the concept alone matters. Flock has blanketed thousands of towns with ALPR cameras, often with zero public notice, and most residents have no idea one is bolted to a pole near their house, school, or church.

Projects like this are part of a growing DIY detection movement that mirrors what license plate reader opponents have been doing for years with radar detector communities — citizens building their own tools because governments and vendors won't hand over transparency voluntarily. If BLE beacons really are broadcasting from these units, that's a crack in the black box, and hobbyists poking at it is exactly how independent verification starts. We'll be watching to see if this gets refined into something replicable and open-sourced for wider community use.

In the meantime, you don't need a soldering iron to start pushing back. Check our camera map to see what's already been documented near you, and if you spot an undocumented Flock unit, or want to push your local council on surveillance accountability, head to our take-action page for next steps.