West Covina Police Install Network Of Flock Safety License Plate Reading Cameras In Strategic Locati
The short version: CBS LA's Katie Johnston reports on West Covina PD's new Flock Safety camera network, framed as an 'eye in the sky' for strategic surveillance.
Our Take
West Covina is the latest city to roll out Flock Safety's ALPR network, and CBS LA's Katie Johnston gives us the standard local-news treatment: cops explain the cameras as a crime-fighting tool, residents nod along, end of segment. What's missing, as usual, is any real scrutiny of what 'strategic locations' actually means — it means blanket coverage of who drives where, when, and how often, stored and searchable long after any crime has been solved or forgotten.
This is the pattern we track constantly at DeFlock: a department quietly expands plate-reading infrastructure, local media frames it as a security upgrade, and there's little public conversation about retention windows, data sharing with other agencies (including federal immigration and ICE-adjacent requests, which have burned other California cities), or whether residents ever got a real say. West Covina isn't unique — it's one more dot on a fast-growing national grid.
Credit to CBS LA and Katie Johnston for at least putting the rollout on residents' radar. Our job is to fill in what the segment leaves out. Check our camera map to see what's already watching your streets, and hit our take-action page if you want to push back before West Covina's network becomes the new normal.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of CBS LA, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.