Plymouth votes to take down Flock cameras
The short version: Plymouth's city council voted to rip out its Flock ALPR cameras after residents pushed back hard on privacy grounds, with only one member dissenting.
Our Take
KARE 11's report on Plymouth, Minnesota is a reminder that these fights are winnable at the local level. When a near-unanimous council votes to tear down a surveillance network after hearing from residents, it shows that "public safety" marketing doesn't hold up once people realize every drive to the grocery store is being logged, timestamped, and stored in a database most of them never consented to.
What stands out here isn't just the vote — it's the "only one" detail. These decisions are rarely close once a community actually shows up and asks hard questions: who sees this data, how long is it kept, what happens when it's shared with ICE or out-of-state agencies, and what's the actual evidence it reduces crime. Plymouth's council apparently didn't get satisfying answers, and neither have most towns that have taken a hard look.
If you're in a city still debating Flock, take this as a playbook: show up, ask the uncomfortable questions, and don't let "it's just for public safety" go unchallenged. Check our map to see what's already watching your neighborhood, and head to take action if you want to push your own council toward a vote like Plymouth's. Credit to KARE 11 for covering a story that a lot of local news outlets still won't touch.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of KARE 11, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.