Stockton police praise Flock cameras despite public concerns
The short version: FOX40 reports Stockton PD touting Flock cameras for falling crime, but correlation isn't proof, and public concerns are getting brushed aside.
Our Take
FOX40 News's report out of Stockton follows a familiar script: police point to a dip in violent crime, hold up Flock Safety's camera network as the reason, and move on without grappling with the harder questions. Correlation isn't causation, and departments rarely release the kind of rigorous, independent data needed to show these cameras — rather than staffing changes, seasonal trends, or a dozen other variables — actually caused the drop. When agencies get to grade their own homework, the cameras always look like a win.
What the segment glosses over is the "despite public concerns" part of its own headline. Those concerns aren't abstract: Flock's ALPR network logs every vehicle that passes, builds a searchable travel history on residents who've done nothing wrong, and routinely shares that data across jurisdictions with little public oversight or audit trail. Stockton residents deserve more than a press conference and a crime-stat chart before this kind of permanent tracking infrastructure gets a pass.
Check our map to see if Flock has already rolled into your neighborhood, and visit take action for tools to push your city council for transparency, retention limits, and real audits before rubber-stamping the next contract.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of FOX40 News, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.