Flock cameras misused in Stockton and the growing debate over the tech around the region

Our Take

Another day, another local newsroom digging into what happens when Flock Safety's promises meet real-world policing. CBS Sacramento's Steve Large takes a look at Stockton, and the throughline is one we keep seeing nationwide: these networks get sold to city councils as narrow tools for solving violent crime, then quietly get used for far more — with little public accounting of who looked up what, and why.

That gap between the sales pitch and the audit log is the whole ballgame. Flock's own marketing leans on transparency language, but transparency isn't self-enforcing — it depends on agencies actually publishing search logs, honoring use-policy limits, and facing consequences when they don't. When misuse surfaces, it's almost always because a reporter, a public records request, or a whistleblower forced it into the open, not because the system caught itself. Credit to Large and CBS Sacramento for doing that digging and pushing the regional debate into daylight.

If you're in the Stockton area or anywhere in California, check our camera map to see what's already watching your streets, and visit take action for ways to push your city council toward real oversight before the next misuse story is about your town.