City Councilman developing legislation to give neighborhoods voice when it comes to Flock cameras
The short version: A Jacksonville councilman wants neighborhoods to have a say before Flock cameras go up, after a state directive forced some takedowns.
Our Take
It says something that it took a state directive — not local oversight — to get some of these cameras pulled down in Jacksonville. Flock Safety and the sheriff's offices that deploy its gear love to tout the solved cases, but they rarely mention that these networks were built with zero community input, no public hearings, and no real audit trail for who's pulling your plate data and why. Councilman Jimmy Peluso's push for legislation giving neighborhoods a voice is a modest ask: let the people who actually live under these cameras decide if they want them watching their street.
Credit to News4JAX for getting Peluso on air to talk through what guardrails could look like, because this is exactly the kind of local accountability fight that usually happens in silence while Flock's footprint quietly expands block by block. A directive forcing removal is a start, but directives can be reversed, budgets get renewed, and vendors lobby hard to get back in. Real guardrails need to be written into local law, not left to the whims of whichever agency signed the latest contract.
If you want to see how saturated your own neighborhood already is, check our camera map, and if you're ready to push your own city council the way Jacksonville residents pushed theirs, our take-action page has the tools to get started.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of News4JAX The Local Station, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.