flock camera

Our Take

Credit to AroundTheWeb for putting a camera on something we hear about constantly but rarely see documented in real time: ordinary people reaching their breaking point with Flock Safety's license plate readers. The video doesn't need slick production value to make its point — the fact that someone felt compelled to film themselves dealing with one of these cameras says everything about how invasive this surveillance has become in communities that never voted for it.

This is the pattern we keep seeing nationwide. Flock cameras get installed quietly, often through opaque city council votes or police department budget lines, and residents only notice once the poles go up on their street corner. By the time people realize their daily movements are being logged, tagged, and stored in a searchable database, the infrastructure is already there. Videos like this one are a symptom of that broken process — when people feel like there's no legitimate channel to push back, some decide to push back anyway.

We're not here to cheerlead vandalism, but we understand the impulse. If you want a legal, effective outlet for that same frustration, start by checking our map to see what's actually watching your neighborhood, then head to our take-action page for ways to organize a real fight against these systems at your local council meeting instead of at 2 a.m. with a wrench.