Cops Caught Using FLOCK ILLEGALLY! #news #safety
The short version: A creator called “I am Tangy” flags alleged illegal police use of Flock Safety ALPR cameras, underscoring how easily these networks slip outside their stated rules.
Our Take
Credit to I am Tangy for putting a spotlight on something we hear about constantly but rarely see documented on camera: police departments using Flock Safety's license plate readers in ways that stretch or break their own stated policies. The specifics in this clip are thin, but the pattern isn't. Agencies sign agreements promising narrow use cases, then quietly run searches for immigration enforcement, personal disputes, or out-of-scope investigations with little oversight and even less public accounting.
This matters because the entire ALPR system is sold to city councils and the public on a promise of guardrails — audit logs, limited retention, specific crime categories. When those guardrails get ignored and nobody notices until a citizen journalist digs it up, it proves the honor system doesn't work. Flock cameras aren't just reading plates; they're building a searchable record of everywhere you drive, and "illegal use" cases like this show how thin the line is between a targeted investigative tool and open-ended mass surveillance.
If you want to see how many of these cameras are already watching your own streets, check our camera map, and if you'd rather not wait for the next whistleblower video to find out your department is cutting corners, head to our take-action page to push for transparency and audits in your city.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of I am Tangy, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.