They Don't Care If You Hate Flock Cameras

Our Take

The headline number is the one that should stop you cold: an estimated 700 million plate scans a day, nationwide, mostly rubber-stamped into your city budget with zero public hearing. Redhawk Media Group's breakdown of the San Diego TRUST ordinance fight is worth watching because it shows what accountability could actually look like — disclosure requirements, use restrictions, some kind of paper trail — and how hard local governments and vendors fight even that bare minimum.

What the video captures well is the pattern we track every day: councils quietly approve these networks as a 'public safety tool,' with no debate about retention windows, data sharing with federal agencies, or who gets access when a warrant isn't required. San Diego's ordinance is one of the few serious attempts to force transparency before the cameras go up, not after residents notice the poles. That's the fight happening in your town too, whether or not anyone's told you.

If you want to see how close this network already is to your own neighborhood, check our camera map, and if you're ready to push back locally, our take-action page has the tools to start.