Flock Cameras Spy On Kids #surveillance #flockcameras
The short version: Dana Rachele's short highlights reports of 50 officers misusing Flock ALPR access to stalk people, underscoring that 'public safety' tech is only as trustworthy as the humans who can query it.
Our Take
Credit to Dana Rachele for putting a number on something we've been saying for years: these networks aren't just vulnerable to outside hackers, they're vulnerable to the badge-holders who have the keys. Fifty officers reportedly caught misusing Flock access to look up exes, neighbors, or whoever caught their interest isn't a glitch in the system — it's the system working exactly as designed, just pointed in a direction nobody wants to admit is inevitable. Give anyone a searchable database of everywhere a car has been, and some percentage of people with access will use it for reasons that have nothing to do with solving crime.
The 'kids' framing in the title matters too. Parents assume a camera scanning plates near a school is about catching reckless drivers or amber alerts, not building a location history that can be queried by whoever has login credentials and a grudge. Once that data exists, audits and 'policy' are the only things standing between routine surveillance and outright abuse — and audits only catch what gets reported.
If you want to see how dense this coverage actually is where you live, check our camera map, and if you're ready to push back on a local deployment, our take-action page has concrete steps for making noise at city council and beyond.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Dana Rachele, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.