What kind of criminal would cut down flock cameras? #flock

Our Take

Jesse Dalba's video title is doing a lot of work with that word 'criminal,' and that's exactly why it's worth watching. Framing anyone who damages an ALPR camera as a criminal conveniently skips over the bigger question: what happens when private companies and police departments blanket neighborhoods with always-on license plate tracking, often with little public input and even less oversight? People don't take hacksaws to utility poles for fun. Frustration with unaccountable surveillance infrastructure doesn't come from nowhere.

We're not in the business of cheering property destruction, and we don't know the specifics behind whatever incident prompted this video. But the reaction it's getting says something real: a growing number of Americans are uneasy about a company like Flock Safety quietly building a nationwide vehicle-tracking network, camera by camera, city by city, with records that can be shared across agencies and states. When people feel like the normal channels — city council meetings, public records requests, local reporting — aren't enough to slow that expansion, some will escalate. That's a predictable response to a system that was rolled out with minimal democratic consent in the first place.

If you want a legal, effective way to push back, start by finding out how many of these cameras are actually in your area. Check our camera map to see what's already watching your streets, and head to our take-action page for ways to organize, file records requests, and push your local government for real transparency instead of waiting for the next viral video of someone taking matters into their own hands.