Vandals cut down Flock cameras in small PA town amid national debate

Our Take

CBS 21 News is reporting on something we've seen bubbling up in towns across the country: frustration with Flock Safety's ALPR cameras boiling over into vandalism. We don't endorse destroying property, but we understand the impulse. When residents feel like surveillance infrastructure got bolted onto their streets without a real public conversation, some people stop waiting for permission to push back.

What's notable here isn't the act itself, it's the "national debate" framing CBS 21 uses. That's the real story. This isn't an isolated NIMBY flare-up anymore. Small towns, big cities, red counties, blue counties, people are waking up to the fact that a private company has quietly built a license-plate tracking network blanketing their daily movements, often approved by a handful of officials with little public input and even less technical scrutiny.

Vandalism grabs headlines for a news cycle, but it doesn't change policy. What does is showing up to city council meetings, filing records requests, and knowing exactly where these cameras are installed in your own community. Check our map to see what's near you, and head to our take-action page if you'd rather fight this in the daylight, through public pressure and local accountability, than in the dark.