Reason Given, Ep. 15: 246 Flock networks, all the way to Georgia

Our Take

Magnetic Norse's latest Reason Given installment digs into a Burton, Michigan police search that, according to the video, pinged 246 separate Flock Safety networks — stretching all the way to Georgia. If that number holds up, it's a stark illustration of something we keep hammering on: Flock's "network of networks" model means a local cop with a hunch can effectively query cameras hundreds of miles outside their jurisdiction, with little visibility for the public about why or how often that happens.

This is exactly the failure mode critics warned about when agencies started treating Flock access as a shared regional (or national) resource instead of a tool bound by local oversight. One department's definition of "reasonable suspicion" becomes the key that unlocks plate-read history across dozens of states. There's no indication here of judicial review scaling with the search's reach — just a query box and a map of cameras that happens to span the country.

Credit to Magnetic Norse for pulling the thread on this one; it's the kind of granular, records-based reporting that makes these systems legible to the public. If you want to see how far the network spreads near you, check our camera map, and if your city is still deciding whether to sign on with Flock, our take-action page has what you need to push back before the cameras go up.