Alleged misuse of Flock cameras by police
The short version: InvestigateTV's reporting on officers disciplined or arrested for misusing Flock cameras shows the 'trust us' oversight model is failing in real time.
Our Take
Credit to InvestigateTV for digging into something Flock Safety would rather stay buried: a growing pile of cases where officers misused the company's ALPR network for personal reasons, stalking, harassment, or plain curiosity, rather than any legitimate investigation. This isn't a hypothetical slippery slope. It's happening now, in departments that told the public these systems came with audit trails and accountability built in.
The bigger red flag in this reporting is the part about Flock allegedly changing how it tracks and discloses system access, right as scrutiny over misuse cases is expanding. When the vendor controls both the surveillance infrastructure and the transparency around how it's used, the public is left trusting a company with a financial interest in looking clean. That's not oversight, that's marketing with an API.
Every one of these confirmed misuse cases is also a preview of the ones that never surface, because most jurisdictions have no independent audit requirement at all. If you want to know whether your town is feeding this system, check our camera map, and if you're ready to push back at a city council meeting, our take-action page has what you need to get started.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of InvestigateTV, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.