Caldwell City Counsel Get the Flock Out!

Our Take

Credit to Garth Gilbert Gaylord for pointing a camera at the people pointing cameras at everyone else. This video captures something we see over and over in our inbox and in local meeting minutes around the country: a police chief gets caught flat-footed when residents start asking basic questions about ALPR contracts, data sharing, and retention — and the answers don't add up. "Lack of transparency" isn't a throwaway line here, it's the whole story. Flock Safety's business model depends on departments quietly renewing contracts and expanding networks before the public even knows the cameras went up.

What's happening in Caldwell is the same pattern we've tracked nationally: a vendor sells convenience and "officer safety," a department signs on with minimal council scrutiny, and only after the hardware is already reading plates does anyone ask who else gets access to that data, how long it's stored, or whether it's being used for things well outside the original pitch. When a police chief's credibility becomes the issue, that's a signal the oversight process failed long before the cameras went live.

This is exactly why local pressure matters — council meetings, public records requests, and residents showing up and asking uncomfortable questions are often the only check on these systems. If you want to see what's already been installed near you, check our camera map, and if you want to push back the way Caldwell residents are doing, our take-action page has tools to help.