Flock camera vandalized, cut down
The short version: A Flock ALPR camera was cut down in Warren, Michigan, and CBS Detroit's report shows how far public frustration with unaccountable surveillance has traveled.
Our Take
Credit to CBS Detroit for getting cameras rolling on this one: a Flock license plate reader in Warren didn't just get vandalized, it got cut clean down. We don't endorse property destruction, but we're not surprised it's happening. When cities quietly bolt cameras to poles without public votes, without clear retention policies, and without real oversight, some residents are going to conclude that the only "public comment" these systems respond to is a hacksaw.
What's notable here isn't the vandalism itself, it's that local police are now treating a surveillance camera's downtime as a crime to investigate, while the broader questions, who has access to this data, how long is it stored, which agencies can query it, go largely unexamined. That imbalance is the real story. Communities are told these cameras are for solving crimes, but residents rarely get a say in whether they want a privately-run scanning network logging every car that passes.
If you want to know whether a Flock camera is already watching your street, check our camera map, and if you'd rather push back through city council instead of a pair of bolt cutters, our take-action page has the tools to do it the legal way.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of CBS Detroit, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.