Flock Cameras Do More Than Read Your License Plate
The short version: Cato Institute's video highlights how Flock's network has quietly expanded from plate-reading cameras into drones and broader surveillance infrastructure, raising alarm across the political spectrum.
Our Take
It says something that a libertarian stalwart like the Cato Institute is sounding the alarm on Flock Safety. This isn't a fringe privacy group — it's a think tank built on skepticism of government overreach, and even they're flagging that Flock's cameras were never just about reading plates. Once you build a database that tracks every car's movement, the temptation to bolt on more tools — drones, facial recognition partnerships, data sharing agreements — becomes almost irresistible for law enforcement agencies.
That mission creep is the real story here. A system sold to city councils as a tool to catch stolen cars or find Amber Alert vehicles quietly becomes an always-on tracking grid, shared across jurisdictions with little oversight and even less public input. When the infrastructure exists, it gets used — and expanded — regardless of the original promises made to residents.
Credit to Cato for making the civil liberties case plainly: this is a bipartisan problem, not a partisan one. If you want to see how far this network has spread in your own backyard, check our camera map, and if you're ready to push back, our take-action guide has concrete steps for your city council meeting.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of The Cato Institute, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.