Washington County leaders to decide on county funds used for Flock cameras
The short version: A county budget committee, not voters, is quietly deciding whether taxpayer dollars will fund Flock ALPR cameras in Washington County.
Our Take
Credit to 5NEWS for flagging something that too often slips by unnoticed: the decision to blanket a county with license plate readers frequently comes down to a line item in a finance committee meeting, not a public referendum. Washington County residents may wake up to find Flock cameras logging every car that passes, all because a handful of officials signed off on a budget request with little public debate.
This is exactly how Flock's footprint has spread across the country — not through broad community consent, but through quiet procurement decisions dressed up as routine budget business. Once the cameras go in, the data-sharing agreements, retention policies, and inevitable mission creep follow. Few residents get a real say before the contract is signed, and even fewer get a chance to review how that data is used, shared with other agencies, or protected from abuse.
If you're in Washington County, this is the moment to show up, ask questions, and demand transparency before the vote, not after the cameras are bolted to poles. Check our map to see what's already been deployed near you, and visit our take-action page for tools to push back on surveillance spending before it's rubber-stamped.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of 5NEWS, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.