"If they are license plate readers, why are they pointed at a splash pad?"
The short version: Internet Librarian spotlights eight Flock ALPR cameras aimed at a Texas splash pad, raising obvious questions about why plate readers need to watch kids play.
Our Take
Credit to Internet Librarian for doing the legwork that a city council apparently didn't: walking up to Slayter Creek Park and asking why eight Flock Safety cameras are trained on a splash pad full of children instead of, say, the parking lot entrances where cars actually drive. Flock markets these things as license plate readers for catching stolen vehicles and wanted suspects. Toddlers in swimsuits are not vehicles, and they're not suspects.
This is the pattern we keep documenting: a department requests cameras for "traffic enforcement" or "crime reduction," and somehow the lenses end up pointed at playgrounds, sidewalks, and front yards. Once the hardware is up, nobody audits the aim, the retention window, or who's pulling footage and why. Parents in this video are doing the oversight job that was supposed to be baked in before installation, not after the complaints started rolling in.
If your town has Flock gear you didn't know about, check our camera map to see what's already been logged near you, and if you want to push back on a deployment like this one, our take-action guide walks through how to raise it at a council meeting before it becomes someone else's splash pad problem.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Internet Librarian, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.