WATCH: Trump says Flock cameras are 'being studied right now' by federal government
The short version: PBS NewsHour captured Trump saying the federal government is 'studying' Flock Safety's ALPR network, a comment that should worry anyone tracking the quiet federalization of local surveillance.
Our Take
Credit to PBS NewsHour for getting this moment on tape: the president himself confirming that Flock's license plate readers are on the federal government's radar. That's a notable admission, even in just a few words. For years we've documented how these cameras, sold to local police departments as a tool against car theft, quietly became a national surveillance grid that federal agencies can tap into through data-sharing agreements. Hearing it acknowledged at the presidential level is different from reading it in a procurement document.
What 'being studied' means is anyone's guess, and we won't pretend to know more than the clip shows. It could mean oversight, expansion, or something in between. But the fact that thousands of these cameras already sit on street corners in nearly every state, feeding a searchable database that local, state, and now apparently federal officials can query, is exactly the kind of infrastructure that shouldn't exist without public debate first. Americans didn't vote for a nationwide plate-tracking system; it arrived one small-town contract at a time.
If federal attention is finally turning toward Flock, that's a chance for real scrutiny, not just rubber-stamping what's already been built. Check our camera map to see what's tracking you locally, and visit our take-action page if you want to push back before 'being studied' quietly becomes 'being adopted.'
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of PBS NewsHour, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.