Flock Big City #technology #columbusohio #flockcameras #flocksafety #deflock

Our Take

Shaun Ti's short clip is the kind of citizen documentation that matters most in this fight: just a camera pointed at a camera, showing how normalized Flock Safety's license plate readers have become in a big city like Columbus. No dramatic narration needed — the sheer presence of these poles on ordinary streets tells the story.

This is exactly why crowdsourced footage and reporting matter. Flock doesn't advertise where its cameras go or who has access to the data they collect. It's local residents noticing the poles, filming them, and sharing that information that builds the public record these companies would rather keep opaque. Columbus joins a long list of cities where this infrastructure has expanded quietly, block by block, without much public debate about retention, access, or oversight.

If you're in Columbus or anywhere else wondering what's watching your commute, check our camera map to see documented locations near you, and if you want to push back on unchecked ALPR deployment in your community, our take-action page has concrete steps to get started. Credit to Shaun Ti for putting eyes on the ground where it counts.