Utah governor 'deeply troubled' by Flock camera concerns, orders privacy review

Our Take

When a sitting governor says he's "deeply troubled" by a surveillance system, that's not a throwaway line — it's an admission that the alarm bells ridden by privacy advocates for years are finally reaching the top of state government. KSL News Utah reports Gov. Spencer Cox has ordered two state agencies to review how Flock's automated license plate readers are being used across Utah, which signals that even officials who aren't reflexively anti-surveillance are realizing these networks have outgrown any real oversight.

That's the pattern we keep seeing nationwide: police departments and private vendors roll out thousands of cameras, wire them into shared databases, and only after public pressure mounts does anyone in power stop to ask who's watching the watchers. A "review" isn't a fix — it's a first step, and only as good as what comes out of it. Utah residents should be asking hard questions about data retention, who gets access to plate logs, and whether local agencies are sharing Flock data with federal immigration or out-of-state law enforcement without consent.

Credit to KSL for keeping this story in front of Utah voters. If you want to see how many Flock cameras are already running in your neighborhood, check our camera map, and if you want to push back on unchecked ALPR deployment where you live, our take-action page has concrete steps.