“EASTPOINTE POLICE MISUSED FLOCK CAMERAS—CITY CUTS THE FEED”

Our Take

Credit to Tru Control News Network for surfacing this one, because it's exactly the kind of story that should make every city council pause before signing a Flock contract. Eastpointe's own police chief had to admit that officers misused the department's license plate readers — and rather than paper over it, the city shut the feed off. That's a rare moment of accountability in an industry that usually treats "trust us" as a complete answer.

This matters because Flock's entire pitch rests on the idea that access is tightly controlled and audit trails catch abuse. Eastpointe shows what happens when that promise breaks down in practice: officers can query a system that tracks everyone's movements, not just suspects, and there's often no outside check until something leaks or a chief fesses up. Multiply that by the thousands of agencies running these networks nationwide and you get a surveillance apparatus with uneven oversight and a lot of blind trust.

If your town has Flock cameras — or is being pitched on them — this is the case to bring up at the next council meeting. Check our camera map to see what's already watching your streets, and use our take-action resources to push for real audit requirements before, not after, the misuse happens.