Cities Are Covering Flock Cameras With Trash Bags
The short version: 404 Media reports cities are literally trash-bagging Flock ALPR cameras because they can't figure out how to exit surveillance contracts they now regret.
Our Take
Credit to 404 Media for capturing what might be the most on-the-nose image of the ALPR backlash yet: municipal employees duct-taping garbage bags over Flock cameras because nobody can figure out how to actually terminate the contract. It's a perfect metaphor for how this industry operates — these deals get signed fast, often without real public debate, and then cities discover the exit door is bolted shut. If a plastic bag is the most effective privacy tool a city council can deploy against its own surveillance vendor, that tells you everything about how lopsided these contracts are.
This isn't an isolated glitch. It's what happens when local governments buy into a mass surveillance network before asking basic questions: who owns the data, who can query it, how long is it kept, and what happens if we change our minds. Flock's pitch is always more cameras, more searches, more "network effect," but the fine print rarely makes it easy for a city to walk away once residents start asking uncomfortable questions about warrantless tracking of everyone's movements.
If your town has Flock cameras — bagged or not — check our camera map to see what's actually deployed near you, and use our take-action page to push your council to demand real answers before renewal, not after the trash bags go up.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of 404 Media, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.