Cops VIOLATING Their Oaths of Office With Flock Cameras

Our Take

Credit to Ashley Brasfield for digging into a story that should be making headlines everywhere: five former Georgia police officers reportedly charged over alleged misuse of a Flock Safety ALPR system. This is exactly the scenario privacy advocates have been warning about since these cameras started popping up on street corners nationwide — not hypothetical hacking by outside criminals, but insiders with legitimate access abusing a system built on the premise of trust.

Flock's entire pitch rests on the idea that departments will use this data responsibly, with audit trails and policy guardrails keeping everyone honest. But audit trails only matter if someone's actually reviewing them, and policies only matter if there's real accountability when they're broken. When the people sworn to uphold the law are the ones allegedly abusing a tool that tracks every car on the road, it confirms what we've said all along: mass surveillance infrastructure doesn't stay contained to 'solving crimes.' It becomes a liability the moment it's built, regardless of who's behind the wheel of the department.

This case deserves way more attention than it's getting, and it's a reminder that these cameras aren't abstract policy debates — they're sitting on poles in your town right now, logging your movements. Check our camera map to see what's been deployed near you, and head to our take-action page if you want to push back on unchecked ALPR expansion in your community.