Troy City Council passes Flock regulation, Mayor plans to veto

Our Take

Credit to WTEN for catching this one: Troy's City Council actually did something most councils won't — it passed Local Law 3, a measure from Councilwoman Noreen McKee aimed at putting real guardrails on how Flock camera data gets used and shared. That's the kind of local pushback we rarely see, since most municipalities just sign Flock's contract and move on without asking who else gets access to the footage or how long it sits in a database.

Now the mayor is reportedly planning to veto it, which tells you everything about where the real resistance to ALPR oversight comes from. It's almost never residents demanding more cameras — it's officials and vendors who'd rather keep data-sharing agreements vague and unaccountable. A veto here wouldn't erase the cameras, it would just erase the rules trying to put a leash on them.

Troy is a preview of the fight playing out in city halls everywhere: councils waking up to the scale of Flock's network, then running into resistance when they try to legislate limits. If you want to see how far this surveillance has already spread in your own town, check our camera map, and if you'd rather not wait for your council to have this same showdown, our take-action page has steps you can start now.