Cities spent millions on Flock Safety cameras promising 'ethical surveillance'—then fired them all i

Our Take

ZOO ROAD TV's rundown of roughly 20 cities cutting ties with Flock Safety cameras is worth your attention, even if we're going on the broad strokes here. The pitch from Flock has always been the same: trust us, there are guardrails, this is "ethical" surveillance. When a couple dozen municipalities decide to walk away from that pitch, it's a signal that the promises don't hold up once officials actually look at how the system works in practice.

This is the pattern we track every week at DeFlock. Cities get sold on a tidy vendor narrative about accountability and limited data retention, then discover the fine print, the data-sharing agreements with other agencies, or the lack of real oversight doesn't match the sales deck. Contracts get signed fast and unwound slowly, but when they do get cancelled, it's usually because elected officials or residents pushed back hard enough to force a reckoning.

Credit to ZOO ROAD TV for putting a number on the pushback — that's the kind of accountability reporting this fight needs more of. If you want to see whether your own city or county has Flock gear installed, check our camera map, and if you're ready to push back locally, our take-action page has the tools to get started.