“There’s Always a Bad Apple”: Scottsdale Woman Raises Privacy Concerns Over Flock Cameras
The short version: A Scottsdale resident's 'bad apple' warning on Flock cameras cuts through the false choice between supporting police and opposing mass surveillance.
Our Take
Credit to Jen's Two Cents and the Jen & Friends Podcast for giving space to a Scottsdale resident who says what a lot of people feel but rarely say out loud: you can respect law enforcement and still think a network of always-on license plate cameras logging your every move is a bad idea. That framing matters. Flock Safety and local police departments love to paint critics as "anti-cop," when the real objection is about unchecked data collection, not the officers working a beat.
Her "there's always a bad apple" point is the crux of the whole ALPR debate. These systems don't just catch the rare stolen car — they build a searchable history of where every driver goes, stored and accessible to anyone with login credentials. One bad actor, whether a jealous ex with a badge, a hacker, or a department selling data to brokers, is all it takes to turn a "public safety tool" into a surveillance weapon. Scottsdale isn't unique; this is happening in towns across the country with little public debate before the cameras go up.
If you want to see whether your neighborhood already has Flock or other ALPR cameras watching your daily commute, check our camera map. And if you'd rather not wait for your own "bad apple" story to make the news, our take-action resources can help you push back before it's your data in the system.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Jen's Two Cents. | Jen & Friends Podcast, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.