POLICE UNION FILES COMPLAINT AFTER FLOCK CAMERAS WERE USED TO TRACK OFFICERS UNDER INVESTIGATION

Our Take

Credit to Devin for surfacing this one, because the irony is hard to miss. For years, police departments have told the public that Flock Safety cameras are just a neutral tool for solving crimes — nothing to worry about if you've got nothing to hide. Now that the same cameras are apparently being used to track officers who are themselves under investigation, suddenly there's a union complaint. Funny how quickly the privacy concerns show up once the lens is pointed at the people who approved the system in the first place.

This is exactly the problem we keep flagging: once a network of automated license plate readers exists, there's no technical wall that says 'only use this on civilians.' The data doesn't know or care who's driving. If a department or a union is uncomfortable with officers' movements being logged and queried, that discomfort should extend to every driver who passes one of these cameras — not just the ones with a badge and a collective bargaining agreement to back them up.

Cases like this are useful precisely because they strip away the usual messaging and show the system for what it is: a surveillance tool that can be pointed at anyone, including the people running it. If you want to see how far this network already reaches in your own community, check our camera map, and if you think local officials should have to answer for how this data gets used, our take-action page has concrete steps.