Flock Cameras: Are We Safer Or Just More Searchable? #PrivacyRights #policeaccountability

Our Take

Raquel Herring's video title cuts right to the core tension we harp on constantly: the gap between the marketing pitch and the actual mechanics of a Flock Safety system. Police departments roll these cameras out promising stolen car recoveries and Amber Alerts, but the technology doesn't discriminate between a wanted felon and a person driving to church, a protest, or an ex's apartment. Every plate gets logged, timestamped, and stored, building a movement history on millions of innocent people who were never suspected of anything.

That's the uncomfortable truth hiding behind the word 'safer.' Safer for whom, and at what cost to the rest of us? Once a network of ALPRs blankets a city, you don't get to opt out of being tracked just because you're not a criminal. The data sits in a database, accessible to an expanding list of agencies and, as we've documented repeatedly, sometimes shared well beyond the original justification. Searchability isn't a side effect — it's the business model.

We appreciate Herring putting this question in front of a wider audience, because the only check on this kind of quiet infrastructure expansion is public awareness. If you want to see whether these cameras have already landed in your neighborhood, check our camera map, and if you're ready to push back at a city council meeting or file a records request, our take-action page has the tools to get started.