Privacy groups raise red flags over police misuse of Flock cameras

Our Take

When a mainstream outlet like CBS Evening News starts asking questions about Flock Safety, it's a sign the conversation is finally catching up to what we've been documenting for a while: these cameras don't stay in their lane. Departments sell Flock to city councils as a tool for recovering stolen cars or finding hit-and-run suspects, but once the network is live, the audit logs tell a different story — searches for immigration enforcement, personal disputes, and fishing expeditions that have nothing to do with the original pitch.

That's the core problem with ALPR infrastructure. It's not one camera watching one intersection; it's a searchable, retained record of where you drove, when, and how often, shared across a network of agencies with wildly inconsistent rules about who can look and why. Credit to CBS for putting a national spotlight on what privacy advocates have been saying for years — oversight here is thin, and "misuse" often just means someone used the system exactly as it was built, for something nobody approved.

If you want to see how far this has spread in your own backyard, check our camera map, and if you're ready to push back at a city council meeting or public records request, our take-action page has what you need to get started.