Dr. Viet Trinh at Columbus City Council warning about flock. #legalizefreedom #deflock

Our Take

Public comment periods aren't glamorous, but they're one of the last places an ordinary citizen can put elected officials on record about surveillance tech before the contracts get signed. This clip, shared by the channel Whitmer for Liberty, captures Dr. Viet Trinh doing exactly that in front of Columbus City Council, raising concerns about Flock Safety's automated license plate readers. We don't have the full transcript, but the fact that residents are showing up to council chambers at all to push back on ALPRs is itself the story.

Flock's pitch to cities is always the same: faster case closures, safer streets, minimal oversight needed. What rarely makes the pitch deck is the reality of a private company building a searchable database of where everyone drives, how often, and with whom — accessible to agencies far beyond the city that approved the camera. When a doctor stands up at a council meeting to flag that tradeoff, it's a signal that the conversation is moving past tech-industry talking points and into the realm of informed civic scrutiny, which is exactly where it belongs.

Columbus isn't an outlier — this same debate is playing out in city halls across the country, often with little public notice until the cameras are already bolted to the poles. If you want to see whether Flock or similar ALPR systems have already landed near you, check our camera map, and if you're ready to speak up at your own council meeting, our take-action page has the tools to help you do it.