Petition against Flock cameras gain hundreds of signatures

Our Take

Credit to NBC4 Columbus for covering a story that too many local outlets skip entirely: when a city council or sheriff's office quietly signs a contract with Flock Safety, residents usually find out after the cameras are already bolted to the pole. Here, at least, neighbors organized fast enough to get a petition moving with hundreds of signatures before the cameras became a permanent, unquestioned fixture of daily life.

What's notable isn't just the number of signatures — it's the pattern. Across the country, the same script plays out: a department pitches ALPRs as a tool for recovering stolen cars or finding the occasional wanted suspect, and only later do residents realize they've consented to a system that logs every vehicle's movements, is frequently shared with other agencies, and has already turned up in wrongful stops, data breaches, and law enforcement overreach in other states. A petition is a start, but it only works if it translates into public comment at council meetings, records requests about data-sharing agreements, and sustained attention after the news cameras leave.

If you want to see whether this is already happening in your own neighborhood, check our camera map, and if you'd rather not wait for hundreds of signatures to catch up with hundreds of cameras, our take-action page has concrete steps for pushing back before the contract gets renewed.