Eyewitness News Unscripted: Milford police chief responds to image in Flock Safety promotional vi...
The short version: A Milford police chief's unapproved cameo in a Flock Safety ad raises fresh questions about how the company markets its surveillance network using local officials.
Our Take
WFSB 3's report on Milford Police Chief Keith Mello turning up in a Flock Safety promo video — without, it seems, a clear sense of how or why he got there — is a small story that points to a bigger problem. Flock doesn't just sell ALPR hardware to police departments; it sells a narrative, and that narrative apparently includes borrowing the faces and credibility of local chiefs to sell more cameras to the next town over.
Whether this was a miscommunication or a marketing team getting a little too comfortable using a public official's likeness, it's a reminder that the push to blanket American streets with license plate readers is driven as much by sales pitches as by public safety need. Chiefs are being used as props in a growing surveillance industry's advertising, often with little scrutiny of what residents actually consented to.
Stories like this are exactly why transparency matters before cameras go up, not after a chief has to explain himself on the evening news. Check our camera map to see what's already watching your town, and visit our take-action page if you want to push back before your local police chief becomes the next unwitting pitchman.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of WFSB 3, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.