San Jose residents protest flock cameras after officer misused data

Our Take

This is the story we keep hearing in city after city: a surveillance network gets installed with promises of "just finding stolen cars," and then someone with access decides to use it for something else entirely. Courier California's report on San Jose residents confronting their City Council over nearly 500 Flock cameras — and an officer's alleged misuse of the data — is a textbook example of why "trust us" is never good enough when it comes to a system that logs where every car in town goes, every single day.

Flock Safety and local police departments love to frame these camera networks as a narrow tool for catching stolen vehicles. But 500 cameras in one city isn't a narrow tool — it's a dragnet. Once that much location data exists in one database, misuse isn't a hypothetical risk, it's a matter of when, not if. Credit to Courier California for getting residents and officials on record and putting a face on the backlash that's spreading nationwide.

San Jose isn't alone, and it won't be the last. If you want to see how dense this surveillance net has gotten near you, check our camera map, and if you're ready to push back the way San Jose residents did, our take-action page has the tools to get started.