What the Flock is Going On with Video Surveillance??
The short version: Maine lawmaker Laurel Libby spotlights how Auburn's police quietly rolled out Flock ALPRs without public input, echoing a national pattern of surveillance-by-default.
Our Take
Laurel Libby's video captures the recurring theme we see in town after town: a police department adopts Flock Safety cameras first, and the public finds out later. In Auburn, Maine, that revelation is now forcing a public reckoning over whether to keep the system at all — but only after residents had to demand one. That's backwards. Decisions to blanket a city in automated license plate readers that log every driver's movements should require sign-off from the people being watched, not a rubber stamp after the fact.
This isn't just a local story. It's the same playbook nationwide: quiet procurement, vague council votes, and a surveillance network that expands before most residents even know it exists. Once that data pipeline is built, rolling it back is far harder than stopping it before installation. Libby's reporting is a reminder that local government transparency isn't a side issue — it's the whole ballgame when it comes to mass surveillance infrastructure.
Credit to Libby for pushing this into public view and giving Auburn residents a real decision point. If you want to see how far this has spread, check our camera map, and if your own town is facing a similar vote, our take-action resources can help you organize before the cameras go up, not after.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Laurel Libby, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.