Are Flock cameras a scam?

Our Take

Alex Falcone frames Flock Safety through a comedian's lens, but the underlying question — is this a scam? — deserves a straight answer, and it's a messier one than a punchline can hold. Flock isn't selling snake oil; the cameras work exactly as advertised. The scam risk isn't in whether the tech functions, it's in how it's pitched to city councils: as a narrow crime-fighting tool, when in practice it becomes a permanent, searchable log of every driver's movements, shared across agencies with little oversight and even less public input.

That's the part that gets lost when the sales conversation is happening in a budget meeting instead of a town hall. Departments get a slick demo and a low monthly fee, and residents get a surveillance network they never voted on, running 24/7 whether or not there's ever a crime nearby. Whether you call that a scam or just a really good sales pitch, the effect on privacy is the same.

Credit to Falcone for putting the question in front of an audience that might not otherwise think twice about a camera on a pole. If it's got you looking around your own town, check our camera map to see what's already watching your street, and visit our take-action page if you want to push back.