Massie Leads Effort to DEFUND Cities Using FLOCK Cameras
The short version: Massie's push to strip federal funds from cities running Flock ALPR networks shows surveillance pushback is going bipartisan, but the fight isn't over.
Our Take
Due Dissidence flags something worth watching: Rep. Thomas Massie floating an effort to defund municipalities that lean on Flock Safety's camera networks. Whatever you think of Massie generally, this is a useful data point — the backlash to blanket ALPR surveillance isn't confined to one side of the aisle. When libertarians and civil liberties advocates start converging on the same target, that's usually a sign the target deserves the scrutiny.
The mechanism matters here. Cities often adopt Flock systems because a police chief signs a contract, not because residents voted on it or council members had a real debate about retention periods, data sharing, or who else gets query access. Tying federal dollars to surveillance choices is one of the few levers that can force that conversation to happen out loud, in public, instead of buried in a vendor agreement. Whether this particular bill goes anywhere is almost beside the point — it puts pressure on the assumption that plate-reader dragnets are just a cost of doing business in modern policing.
If you want to know what's actually watching you, don't wait on Congress. Check our camera map to see what's already deployed near you, and hit take action for concrete steps to push back locally, regardless of what happens on Capitol Hill.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Due Dissidence, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.