They kept the camera purchases $10 under the number that required a review.

Our Take

Credit to Flock U for digging through procurement records most people never bother to read, because this is exactly the kind of rot that thrives in the dark. A sheriff's office allegedly keeping purchase orders $10 under the dollar amount that triggers mayoral review, year after year, isn't a clerical quirk — it's a pattern that looks a lot like deliberate evasion of oversight. Add in cameras bolted to utility poles without permits and gear that reportedly didn't meet federal safety standards, and you've got a surveillance program that expanded for years with essentially zero outside scrutiny.

This matters far beyond Knox County. Flock's sales model depends on quiet, frictionless rollouts: get a sheriff or police chief to sign off, skip the public hearing, and let the camera count climb before anyone on a council or commission notices what's been installed on their streets. When oversight bodies finally do look, as Knox County's commissioners and now Collegedale's did, the unanimous votes to rip systems out tell you something — this isn't a partisan issue, it's a governance issue. Nobody from the sheriff's office even showed up to defend the program at the vote.

If your town has Flock cameras, odds are good nobody asked your council a single hard question before they went up. Check our camera map to see what's already watching your community, and use our take-action resources to push your own local officials to do what Knox County just did.