East Tennessee commissioner says Flock CEO should be hanged: Watch

Our Take

Let's be clear: calling for the execution of a tech CEO is not a policy position, it's a headline machine, and Knoxville News Sentinel was right to cover it as the alarming outburst it is. But strip away the shock value and there's a real story underneath — a sitting county commissioner is furious enough about Flock Safety's automated license plate readers to reach for the language of treason. That kind of anger doesn't come out of nowhere; it comes from officials realizing how deeply these camera networks have embedded themselves in local law enforcement with little public debate.

We don't do hyperbole here, and we're not going to pretend rage-tweeting for violence is a serious rebuttal to Flock's business model. But the underlying frustration — that a private company is quietly building a nationwide vehicle-tracking database and selling access to police departments — is exactly what we've been documenting for months. When elected officials start losing their cool over ALPR contracts, it's a signal that communities are waking up to what's actually been installed on their streets and who controls the data.

If you want the sober version of this outrage, skip the theatrics and check whether Flock cameras are already watching your commute on our map, then use our take-action guide to push your own local government for transparency instead of waiting for someone to say something they shouldn't on camera.