Investigative report details Flock Safety calling 911 on journalists filming its cameras
The short version: WDRB+WAVE's investigation reveals Flock Safety allegedly called 911 on journalists for filming its ALPR cameras in public, raising press freedom alarms.
Our Take
If this reporting from WDRB+WAVE holds up, it's a staggering admission of how jumpy Flock Safety gets when the surveillance apparatus itself gets surveilled. Cameras that scan and store every passing license plate are apparently fine watching you, but a journalist pointing a lens back at them is treated as a 911-worthy emergency. That asymmetry is the whole story of mass surveillance in one anecdote.
Filming equipment installed in public space, often on public right-of-way, is about as textbook "not a crime" as it gets. Calling law enforcement on reporters doing their jobs isn't a security protocol, it's intimidation, and it should worry anyone who cares about the public's ability to scrutinize the companies building our surveillance infrastructure. Credit to WDRB and WAVE for pushing on this instead of letting it slide as a one-off.
This is exactly why independent tracking matters. If a company reacts this defensively to a camera pointed its way, imagine the scrutiny it'd rather avoid at scale. Check our map to see what's been logged near you, and head to take action if you want to push back on unchecked ALPR deployment in your community.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of WDRB+WAVE, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.