Why people are cutting down Flock cameras across America

Our Take

Brink's video captures something we've been tracking for a while: ordinary people are fed up enough with warrantless plate surveillance that they're taking wrenches, paint, and saws to the cameras themselves. The Guardian's count cited in the video — dozens of incidents across a huge swath of states — isn't a fringe phenomenon. It's a signal that Flock's "we're just helping police" pitch isn't landing with the public that's actually being logged every time they drive to church, a clinic, or a protest.

The part of this story that deserves more attention is the one buried at the end of the clip: fusion centers apparently building profiles on people who criticize or damage these systems. That's the whole surveillance-state playbook in miniature — a company deploys blanket ALPR coverage with no warrant requirement, then the same intelligence apparatus that ingests your plate data turns around and treats public objection as a threat category worth monitoring. Vandalism isn't something we endorse, but the anger fueling it is a rational response to a system that was rolled out with almost no public debate in most of the 80-plus cities that have since pulled the plug on their Flock contracts.

Credit to Brink for laying out plainly what these cameras actually capture and who's facing charges for fighting back. If you want to see whether Flock or a similar ALPR network has been installed near you, check our camera map, and if you'd rather push back through your city council than a pair of bolt cutters, our take-action page has the tools to do it.