Surprise, AZ Flock Audit | Exclusive with Councilmember Johnny V. Melton
The short version: A Surprise, AZ councilmember's rare audit of Flock Safety ALPRs shows what real local oversight of surveillance tech can look like.
Our Take
Credit where it's due: most city councils rubber-stamp Flock Safety contracts without ever asking to see the logs, the audit trail, or the vendor's own usage data. Councilmember Johnny V. Melton did the opposite — he actually dug into Surprise, Arizona's license plate reader system and sat down with Jen's Two Cents to explain what an honest audit looks like. That's the kind of scrutiny every city with these cameras should be demanding, not the exception.
What makes this interview worth watching isn't just the specific findings in one Arizona suburb — it's the template. Elected officials rarely have the technical background to interrogate AI-driven policing tools, and vendors count on that gap. When a council member actually asks how long data is retained, who can query the system, and whether audits are even possible after the fact, it pulls back the curtain on a surveillance network that's normally invisible to the people paying for it and living under it.
Every one of these systems adds to a nationwide web of plate-reading cameras that can track where you go, when, and how often — all without a warrant. If you want to see how dense that network already is in your own town, check our camera map, and if you're ready to push your own council toward the kind of accountability Melton modeled here, our take-action page has concrete steps to get started.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Jen's Two Cents. | Jen & Friends Podcast, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.