Flock Safety Faces Privacy Questions From Charlotte Area Residents
The short version: South Charlotte Report captures residents grilling Flock Safety over ALPR expansion, echoing a pattern we see play out in town after town.
Our Take
Credit to South Charlotte Report for putting a camera on the people actually asking the hard questions, instead of just taking Flock Safety's sales pitch at face value. This is how it usually goes: a city council quietly approves a handful of cameras, the network quietly grows, and only after residents notice the hardware on their streets do the real questions start about who's watching, who has access, and how long that data sticks around.
The fact that Charlotte-area residents are pushing back matters because ALPR systems don't just catch the occasional stolen car — they build a rolling log of everywhere a plate has been, often shared across agencies with little public oversight. Once that infrastructure is in place, it's rarely scaled back, no matter how the debate at the council meeting went. South Charlotte's experience is a preview of what's coming to plenty of other neighborhoods that haven't had their town hall moment yet.
If you want to see how far this has already spread, check our map for Flock cameras near you, and if you're ready to push back the way these residents are, our take-action guide has the tools to start.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of South Charlotte Report, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.