Flock Cameras and the Coming Surveillance Network
The short version: St. Augustine TV spotlights how Flock ALPRs are rolling into St. Johns County, Florida, with the Sheriff's enthusiastic backing — a local story that mirrors a national pattern.
Our Take
Credit to St. Augustine TV for doing what more local outlets should be doing: pointing a camera at the cameras. Their look at Flock Safety's expansion into St. Johns County is a reminder that these rollouts rarely start with a public vote or a real debate — they start with a sheriff who's already sold, a press release, and a contract that's easy to sign and hard to unwind.
What makes this local angle matter is that it's the same script playing out in county after county: an "outspoken" law enforcement champion, vague promises about catching the worst offenders, and little discussion of how long the plate-read data sits in a database, who else can query it, or what happens when the network links up with cameras three counties over. Multiply St. Johns County by the thousands of jurisdictions doing the same thing, and you get the national ALPR grid nobody actually voted for.
If you want to see how far that grid already reaches — in Florida and beyond — check our camera map, and if your own county is next in line for a Flock contract, our take-action page has steps for showing up before the cameras go up, not after.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of St. Augustine TV, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.