Flock Cameras Will Catch You GOONING

Our Take

Gnome Deep State's video takes the meme-y title and actually does some homework, tracing Flock Safety's money and connections back through a16z to defense-adjacent players like Anduril, plus digging up the Institute for Justice's reporting on cops using plate readers to stalk romantic interests. That's the real story buried under the clickbait: this isn't just "a camera on a pole," it's a growing data infrastructure with investors and incentives that have nothing to do with your neighborhood's actual crime rate.

The video's nod to ICE data-sharing questions and misread errors (like the Business Insider piece on Flock's ALPR mistakes) matters because both problems compound each other. A system that's wrong often and shares broadly with federal agencies isn't a minor bug, it's the whole risk profile. When local police departments plug into a nationwide network built by a company backed by venture capital with military-tech portfolios, the surveillance stops being local and becomes part of something much bigger than any city council ever voted on.

We appreciate creators like Gnome Deep State connecting these dots for a wider audience, even with a irreverent title. If this clip has you wondering what's parked at the end of your own street, check our camera map to see what's already been documented near you, and hit up our take-action page for concrete ways to push back before your town's council rubber-stamps the next contract.