Flock use in Michigan under scrutiny
The short version: CBS Detroit's report on Flock cameras in the metro area is a reminder that ALPR expansion often happens with little public debate or oversight.
Our Take
CBS Detroit's local news team is doing what more outlets should: pointing a camera at the cameras. Their report on Flock Safety's spread across metro Detroit police departments spotlights a pattern we see nationwide — these networks grow fast, department by department, often without a real public conversation about who gets access to the data, how long it's kept, or who's watching the watchers.
Detroit isn't a stranger to surveillance controversy, from Project Green Light to facial recognition misfires that led to wrongful arrests. Layering in a growing web of license plate readers just adds another thread to a surveillance dragnet that rarely gets rolled back once it's in place. The scrutiny CBS Detroit is applying here matters — this is exactly the kind of local accountability journalism that keeps police tech decisions from happening entirely in the dark.
If you're in Michigan and want to know exactly where these cameras are watching you drive, check our map. And if you'd rather do something about it than just worry about it, our take action page has steps for pushing back at the city council level.
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.