Greene County deputy accused of using Flock camera system for personal use
The short version: An 11Alive investigation reportedly found a Greene County deputy misused Flock's ALPR network for personal reasons, exposing the abuse risk baked into these surveillance systems.
Our Take
Every time Flock Safety sells a city on its network of license plate readers, the pitch is the same: it's just for catching bad guys, and the data is safe in the hands of trained professionals. Credit to 11Alive for digging into a case out of Greene County that tests that promise — a deputy allegedly using the system to run plates for personal reasons rather than any actual investigation. That's not a hypothetical civil-liberties worry anymore; it's an accusation of exactly the kind of abuse critics have been warning about since these cameras started going up on street corners nationwide.
The uncomfortable truth is that audit logs and internal policies only work if someone is actually watching them and willing to act on what they find. A database that tracks every car's movements, searchable by any officer with a login, is a standing invitation for misuse — whether that's stalking an ex, checking up on a neighbor, or something worse. Departments love to tout 'safeguards,' but safeguards mean nothing without transparency and real accountability when they fail, and communities are often the last to find out when they do.
This is why we keep pushing people to know what's watching them. Check our camera map to see if Flock has already rolled into your area, and if this story bothers you, visit our take-action page for ways to push back on unchecked ALPR deployment in your own community.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of 11Alive, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.