New data on DPD flock cameras

Our Take

Credit to WFAA for doing the unglamorous work: filing records requests and actually reading the search logs. That's how a number like 7,000-plus queries from one officer surfaces. Flock and police departments love to tell you the system is just for violent crime and stolen cars, but raw audit data has a way of complicating the sales pitch. A query count that high raises obvious questions — what was being searched, for whom, under what authorization, and who actually checks any of it after the fact.

This is exactly the problem with mass ALPR networks: the technology scales effortlessly, but oversight doesn't. One officer with a login can run thousands of lookups, and unless a reporter files a public records request, nobody outside the department would ever know. Audit logs existing is good; audit logs actually being audited by someone other than a journalist is the part cities keep skipping.

Dallas isn't unique — this is the pattern everywhere Flock cameras go up without real guardrails. Check our map to see what's already watching your own streets, and if your city is debating a Flock contract or renewal, use our take-action resources to push for audit requirements before the cameras go in, not after a reporter has to ask for the logs.