HERALD Flock Cameras

Our Take

Credit to Cape May County Herald for doing what too few local outlets bother with: actually tracing the timeline. ALPR cameras have quietly watched that county since 2012, but it took the Flock Safety boom to turn a decade-old surveillance program into a public controversy. That's the pattern everywhere — the tech creeps in under the radar as a "traffic safety" tool, and only years later do residents realize their daily movements have been logged the whole time.

The Fourth Amendment question the video raises isn't academic. These cameras don't just catch stolen cars; they build a searchable database of everywhere your plate has been, retained and shared often without a warrant, a public vote, or even a policy residents can read. Local journalism digging into "what the flock is going on" in their own backyard is exactly the kind of accountability reporting this fight needs, because state legislatures and city councils are moving slower than the camera installs.

If you're wondering whether your own town has quietly joined the network, check our camera map to see what's already watching you, and if you want to push back, our take-action page has the tools to start asking your local officials the hard questions Cape May residents are asking now.