Sacramento shooting follows months of alleged stalking, sheriff says

Our Take

Credit to ABC10 for laying out a case that's genuinely hard to sit with: a woman dead after months of alleged stalking, and a sheriff's office pointing to Flock camera hits as the tool that got them to a suspect fast. Nobody at DeFlock The USA wants to pretend that outcome doesn't matter to the people who loved her. But a quick arrest after a killing isn't the same thing as prevention, and that distinction gets lost every time these cameras get credited as the hero of the story.

Here's the uncomfortable question this case raises and rarely answers: if a network of ALPRs blanketing a county can locate a suspect's car within minutes of a 911 call, why couldn't it — or any other system in place — do anything about months of alleged stalking that apparently preceded the violence? Surveillance infrastructure sold as a public safety upgrade keeps showing up after the fact, logging plates on everyone's daily errands, while the actual warning signs that precede violence against women go unaddressed by the agencies that could intervene. Fast forensics after a tragedy isn't the same as safety, and it shouldn't be used to wave away questions about what else that same camera network is quietly collecting on every driver who passes through.

We're not in the business of pretending these systems have no investigative value. We're in the business of asking who's watching the watchers, where the data goes, and how long it sits in a database after the case is closed. Check our map to see what's logging plates in your area, and head to take action if you want a say in how your city uses this tech.