Huntington council approves Flock guardrails
The short version: Huntington, WV passed an ordinance setting usage standards for Flock ALPRs — a rare case of a city council actually writing guardrails instead of just approving cameras.
Our Take
Credit to WOWK 13 News for flagging this one, because it's not every day a city council does more than rubber-stamp a Flock Safety contract. Huntington's move to pass an actual ordinance governing how license plate readers and other public safety tech can be used suggests someone on that council pushed back and asked the right questions before the cameras went up — or stayed up.
But 'guardrails' can mean a lot of things, and the real test is in the fine print: how long is footage retained, who can access the database, is there audit logging, can out-of-state agencies or ICE query the system, and is there any public reporting when those rules are broken? A well-intentioned ordinance without enforcement teeth is just a press release. We'd want to see the actual text before calling this a win for privacy.
Still, this is the kind of local pushback that matters — most towns adopt Flock's default terms without a second thought. If your city hasn't even had this conversation yet, that's the opening you need. Check our map to see what's already watching your streets, and use our take-action guide to push your own council toward real accountability, not just a feel-good ordinance.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of WOWK 13 News, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.