This city is dropping Flock cameras, but police said they just helped solve a vandalism spree
The short version: Appleton police tout a vandalism bust from Flock cameras just as the city moves to drop the program, a timing that deserves scrutiny, not applause.
Our Take
Funny how these stories always land the same week a city council is about to pull the plug. WLUK-TV FOX 11 reports Appleton police are crediting Flock Safety's automated license plate readers with cracking a vandalism spree, right as the city is reconsidering whether to keep the cameras at all. Credit to the FOX 11 team for covering the local angle — this is exactly the kind of case study people need to see before they vote on renewing a surveillance contract.
Notice the pattern: a single solved property-crime case gets rolled out as proof of concept, while the actual ask — mass, warrantless tracking of every car that passes a reader, vandalism suspect or soccer mom — gets left out of the conversation. One win on vandalism doesn't tell you how many thousands of innocent plates got logged, stored, and potentially shared with other agencies or federal databases along the way. That's the tradeoff residents deserve to weigh, not just the highlight reel.
If Appleton is genuinely debating whether to keep these networks running, that's a rare opening — most cities never even get the vote. Check our camera map to see what's already watching your streets, and if you want to push back before your own city signs a renewal, our take-action page has the tools to make your voice heard at the next council meeting.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of WLUK-TV FOX 11, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.