Keeping flock cameras safe against lasers

Our Take

The channel Digital ID, Mass Surveillance and Digital Currency takes a close look at how Flock Safety is hardening its ALPR cameras against laser pointers and similar DIY tampering attempts. It's a small technical detail that says something bigger: this is an arms race, and the people building the surveillance infrastructure are investing real engineering effort to make sure their cameras keep working no matter what residents try to do about it.

That should reframe how we think about these devices. They aren't passive street furniture — they're hardened, maintained, and actively defended pieces of a growing nationwide tracking network, built by a company that treats community pushback as a problem to engineer around rather than a signal to listen to. When a vendor spends resources laser-proofing cameras instead of addressing the privacy and due-process concerns residents actually raise, it tells you whose interests the system is really built to protect.

Credit to the creator for flagging this under-the-radar development. If you want to see whether these cameras have already shown up in your neighborhood, check our camera map, and if you're ready to push back through your local council or police oversight board, our take-action guide walks you through where to start.