Shakopee city council defends Flock cameras
The short version: KARE 11 reports Shakopee officials defending five Flock ALPR cameras costing $18,000 a year, the same script we hear in city halls nationwide.
Our Take
Credit to KARE 11 for getting Shakopee council members on camera defending their five Flock units and the $18,000 annual price tag. That's the pattern we track over and over: a small rollout, a modest-sounding budget line, and officials treating the cameras as a settled matter rather than a policy choice residents actually voted on.
Eighteen grand a year for five cameras works out to real money for a city that size, and it's recurring — Flock's model is a subscription, not a one-time purchase, so the cost (and the data collection) doesn't stop unless a council decides to stop it. Every plate that passes those five points gets logged, timestamped, and stored, whether or not the driver has ever been suspected of anything. That's the trade being defended here: routine movement tracking of everyone, sold as a tool aimed at the few.
If you want to see whether Shakopee's cameras — or ones near you — are already mapped, check the map, and if you think your own council should have to answer the same questions Shakopee's did, our take-action page has the tools to make that happen.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of KARE 11, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.