DC Police Investigate Possible Misuse of Flock Cameras

Our Take

Credit to YouTuber AaronTheSloth for surfacing this one: D.C. police are reportedly looking into at least two cases where officers may have misused Flock Safety camera access. This is exactly the scenario privacy advocates have warned about since these networks started blanketing American streets — the technology isn't just a tool for solving crimes, it's also a tool that can be turned on exes, neighbors, journalists, or anyone an officer with a login decides to look up.

Flock's own sales pitch leans heavily on "audit logs" and "accountability," but logs only matter if someone is actually checking them, and if the public ever finds out when they reveal a problem. The fact that this is happening in a major metro department, not some small town with lax policy, is a reminder that size and resources don't inoculate a city against abuse. Every one of these cameras is a standing invitation for misuse, and the only real check so far has been outside scrutiny — reporters, YouTubers, and watchdog groups — rather than built-in safeguards.

If you want to know how many of these cameras are already watching your own commute, check our camera map, and if you'd rather not wait for the next misuse scandal to hit your city, our take-action page has concrete steps for pushing back before the cameras go up, not after.