Reason Given, Ep. 1: 720 Flock networks for one car

Our Take

Magnetic Norse kicks off a new series, "Reason Given," by pulling actual Flock audit logs instead of press releases — and episode one is a doozy. One search, run by Murfreesboro, Tennessee police at 1:45 p.m. on May 16, 2024, reportedly reached into 720 separate Flock networks across the country looking for a single vehicle. That's not a typo problem, it's a design feature: Flock's national lookup lets one officer's keystrokes ping camera systems in jurisdictions that never voted on, budgeted for, or even heard of this search.

This is exactly the kind of case we keep flagging — the "reason" field is often the only accountability mechanism in the entire system, and it's filled in by the same person doing the searching. Nobody outside the department is checking whether 720 networks was proportionate to whatever the stated justification was. When a tool can silently cross hundreds of city and county lines in a single query, local oversight of local cameras becomes a polite fiction.

Credit to Magnetic Norse for doing the unglamorous work of reading audit logs line by line — this is the kind of documentation that actually moves the needle. If you want to see what's watching your own neighborhood, check our camera map, and if your city hasn't had this conversation yet, our take-action page has a starting point.