CCSO addresses misinformation about Flock Safety cameras
The short version: A South Carolina sheriff's office pushes back on 'misinformation' about Flock cameras, but public pushback usually means residents are asking sharp questions.
Our Take
Credit to WCBD News 2 for covering this story, but we'd gently push back on the framing. When a sheriff's office holds a press event specifically to counter "misinformation," it's worth asking who defines what counts as misinformation in the first place. More often than not, these moments arise because residents started asking basic, reasonable questions — how long is footage kept, who can access it, is it shared with other agencies or federal databases — and didn't love the answers, or didn't get answers at all.
Flock Safety's pitch to local agencies is polished and reassuring, but the company's own marketing material and law enforcement's public statements don't always match how these systems actually get used once they're networked into statewide and national search platforms. "Trust us" isn't a policy. Clear retention limits, audit logs, public reporting, and real restrictions on sharing are policy — and those are the things reporters and residents should be pressing for, not just rebuttals to "misinformation."
If you're in Charleston County or anywhere else wondering what's actually watching your plate, check our camera map to see documented ALPR locations near you, and visit our take-action page for ways to push your local government toward real transparency instead of just damage control.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of WCBD NEWS 2, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.