War on Flock cameras continue

Our Take

KCEN News is the latest local outlet to frame growing resistance to Flock Safety's ALPR network as some kind of "war," a word choice that tends to flatten a real and growing policy debate into a cops-versus-vandals story. We don't know the specifics of what's happening in this market, and we're not endorsing property destruction, but it's worth asking why so many ordinary people in so many different towns are getting frustrated enough to act at all. When the normal channels — city council meetings, public records requests, open debate — feel closed off, people look for other ways to be heard.

The real story under the headline is simple: thousands of these cameras have been installed across the country with little public input, feeding a searchable database of where you drive that police and, increasingly, outside agencies can query. That's the actual privacy concern, not the occasional spray-painted lens. Local news segments that lead with "activists vs. cameras" often skip past the deeper question of who approved these systems, what oversight exists, and whether residents ever got a real vote.

Credit to KCEN News for keeping Flock in the local conversation — that visibility matters. If you want to know whether these cameras are already watching your own street, check our map, and if you'd rather push back through legitimate channels than wait for a story like this to hit your town, our take-action guide is a good place to start.