Flock Safety Defends License Plate Readers Amid Cleveland Criticism
The short version: Flock Safety tells Cleveland its cameras aren't mass surveillance, but News 5's reporting shows residents and officials aren't buying the spin.
Our Take
News 5 Cleveland put Flock Safety in front of a camera to answer for itself, and the company did what it always does: insist that a statewide network of license plate readers logging every car that passes isn't "mass surveillance." That line only works if you ignore what the system actually does — build a searchable, retained record of where people drive, when, and how often, shared across agencies with little public oversight.
Cleveland and its suburbs are the latest communities asking the obvious question: who decided this was worth the tradeoff, and did residents get a real say? Credit to News 5 for pressing the company instead of just repeating the press release, because "trust us" isn't a policy — it's a marketing strategy. The skepticism from local critics is exactly the kind of scrutiny every city considering Flock contracts should be doing before the cameras go up, not after.
If you want to see how far this network already reaches near you, check our camera map, and if your city is debating a Flock contract, our take-action page has tools to push back before it's a done deal.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of News 5 Cleveland, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.