Americans Are Cutting Down Flock Surveillance Cameras Everywhere

Our Take

Ted Yang's video rounds up what's becoming a familiar story: people fed up with Flock Safety cameras popping up on their streets without a vote, a hearing, or a straight answer about who gets access to the data. By his count, the vandalism has spread to at least 36 states — we can't independently verify that figure, but the pattern it describes matches what we've been tracking for a while. When communities feel shut out of the decision to put a license-plate reader on every corner, some of them start taking matters into their own hands.

We don't endorse property destruction, but we understand the frustration driving it. Flock's pitch to police departments is usually made behind closed doors, with little public input and even less transparency about retention periods, data sharing, or who can query the system. That's a recipe for exactly this kind of backlash. The real fix isn't a hacksaw — it's sunlight: public records requests, city council pushback, and local ordinances that put real limits on this tech before it's installed, not after residents start pulling cameras down themselves.

If you want to know whether Flock has already landed in your neighborhood, check our camera map, and if you're ready to push back through legitimate channels, our take-action page has the tools to start.