Flock Safety Just Got Caught: Cities Are Ripping Out Its Surveillance Came #technews #ai #technology

Our Take

The Blueprint's rundown lands on something we've been tracking for months: the Flock Safety honeymoon is ending. According to the video, LAPD walked away after an internal audit raised red flags, and Denver pulled the plug once it learned the company had been cooperating with immigration authorities. Add Senator Ron Wyden's pointed questions and rising pushback in Atlanta and Madison, and you've got a pattern, not a blip. Credit to the creator for stitching these threads together in one place — that's exactly the kind of accountability journalism this beat needs.

None of this is surprising if you've been paying attention. A system marketed as a tool for solving car break-ins was always going to be irresistible to agencies with broader agendas, and "mission creep" isn't a bug, it's the business model. When a city council approves a camera network for traffic safety and later discovers the data pipeline feeds into immigration enforcement, that's not a misunderstanding — it's exactly how these contracts are written to allow for later expansion, often with minimal public input the first time around.

What happens next depends on whether residents push their own city councils before the next contract renewal, not after. If a surveillance camera is already going up in your neighborhood, check our map to see what's nearby, and if you want to push back before your city signs a multi-year deal, our take-action resources walk through how to get it on the agenda.