Knox County Flock cameras won’t be removed until October, covers to be installed
The short version: Knox County commissioners voted to pull Flock ALPR cameras, but the mayor says they'll stay bagged-but-active until October, not gone.
Our Take
Credit to WATE 6 On Your Side for catching the gap between what Knox County commissioners voted for and what residents are actually getting right now. A vote to remove surveillance cameras should mean the cameras come down — not that they get a tarp thrown over them while the county figures out logistics on its own timeline.
This is a pattern we see again and again: local officials win a real policy victory on paper, then the agencies running the hardware slow-walk compliance. A "short-term solution" of covering cameras instead of removing them raises obvious questions — are they still recording? Who's accountable if they're not actually offline before October? Residents who thought they'd won this fight deserve a hard deadline and real verification, not a promise to get around to it eventually.
If you're in Knox County, don't let this slide into the background — check the map to see what's logged near you, and use our take-action page to push commissioners for a firm, enforced timeline instead of an open-ended "soon."
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of WATE 6 On Your Side, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.