Part 1: Follow the money on the surveillance state - Flock Cameras.
The short version: The Leah Files kicks off a series tracing who profits from Flock's ALPR network, and the money trail deserves way more public scrutiny.
Our Take
The Leah Files is doing something too few local reporters bother with: asking who actually gets paid when a city signs on with Flock Safety. "Follow the money" is the right instinct here — these contracts aren't cheap, they often get approved with minimal public debate, and the companies selling the surveillance infrastructure have every incentive to make it look like a no-brainer public safety purchase rather than a long-term data pipeline paid for with your tax dollars.
We don't have the specifics of what this first installment uncovers, but the framing matters. Flock's business model depends on recurring subscription revenue from thousands of local governments, and every renewal is another year of license plate data flowing into a network that police departments, HOAs, and increasingly federal agencies can tap into. Understanding the financial incentives behind that growth is just as important as understanding the technology itself.
Credit to The Leah Files for digging into this angle, and we'll be watching for the rest of the series. If you want to see what this spending looks like in your own backyard, check our camera map to find nearby ALPRs, and visit our take-action page for ways to push back at the city council level before the next contract gets rubber-stamped.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of The Leah Files, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.