As Surveillance Expands, Kentuckians Question Who Watches the Watchers
The short version: Kentucky's Voice asks a question every state should be asking: who actually holds Flock and its ALPR network accountable?
Our Take
Kentucky's Voice is zeroing in on the question that too many city councils skip right over: once you bolt a license plate reader to a pole, who exactly is watching how that data gets used? That's not a rhetorical flourish — it's the whole ballgame. Flock Safety systems quietly log every car that passes, building a movement history on millions of people who've never been charged with anything, and the retention, sharing, and audit policies vary wildly from one department to the next.
What makes this report worth your time is that it's coming from the ground in Kentucky, not a national outlet parachuting in. Local reporters asking local officials pointed questions is exactly how these systems get checked before they metastasize into a statewide dragnet. Credit to the Kentucky's Voice team for pushing on it instead of treating a new camera install as a routine press release.
If you want to see how saturated your own neighborhood already is, check our camera map, and if you're ready to push back at a city council meeting, our take-action page has the tools to help you do it.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Kentucky's Voice, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.