If there is something that is causing only slightly less angst in the general public’s equilibrium than the current wars over data centers, I would have to guess it’s the ongoing battle against the proliferation of these Flock cameras. The supposed ‘license plate’ readers that are capable of doing so much more [CUE: evil laugh], which are popping up like mushrooms on poles in what seems like every town in the country.
The only reason they don’t get the attention that data centers do, I think, is because people don’t really understand the capabilities of these insidious technological marvels and they’re nowhere near as big and splashy a target.
I’m kind of thinking their time may be coming.
Much like the subversive war on the ULEZ cameras in London, where a stealthy gang of midnight raiders has been cutting them down and carting them off for a couple of years now, the Flock cameras are starting to garner their own guerrilla gang of raiders.
The tactics are ranging from outright vandalism…
DEVELOPING STORY: Multiple Flock cameras cut down or vandalized in Toledo this weekend, police say pic.twitter.com/Ba7kGQRVa8
— 13 Action News (@13abc) August 17, 2026
…to more of a passive resistance movement that can become a community involvement effort with no imminent arrests.
🚨WOW!!!
A 77-year-old Florida man staged a one-man protest against a Flock camera, blocking it’s view by holding a 12-foot POOL SKIMMER against it.
He was caught on camera being interrogated by police and a man driving by says, “What’s your name? I’ll bail you out!”
Then… pic.twitter.com/jjfl9Xl3pQ
— Matt Van Swol (@mattvanswol) July 28, 2026
…Then multiple strangers showed up and brought him cold drinks, an umbrella for shade, and even snacks.
When asked why he was doing this, the 77-year-old said:
“I have a constitutional right to my privacy. I’m a law-abiding citizen, and I don’t need anyone sticking their nose in my business. And if they do, I’m going to chop it off.”
Some have even gone BOOM! in mysterious fashion. They’ve ruled out equipment failure.
The townships that do have them installed are already experiencing issues with some of the more ethically challenged among their law enforcement, who find the lure of being able to spy on their neighbors and track down folks who have pissed them off just too tempting to resist.
JUST IN: Florida police officer arrested after allegedly using Flock cameras to track his estranged wife 717 times. pic.twitter.com/Yclkq92xMX
— Polymarket (@Polymarket) August 18, 2026
Sometimes it’s as if they live in a different world.
There’s always someone looking to make an extra buck.
You just can’t make this shit up…. 🤨
4x Georgia state troopers, Tyler Byrd, Joseph Curlee, Isaiah Francois, and Hunter Waters, have been fired after reportedly committing felony fraud whilst on the job with their state issued police vehicles.
According to the initial state… pic.twitter.com/9qGy0D219h
— Mrgunsngear (@Mrgunsngear) August 18, 2026
…4x Georgia state troopers, Tyler Byrd, Joseph Curlee, Isaiah Francois, and Hunter Waters, have been fired after reportedly committing felony fraud whilst on the job with their state issued police vehicles.
According to the initial state investigation, they made at least $100,000 by filing fraudulent personal injury lawsuits after conducting pit maneuvers on fleeing vehicles despite not actually being injured in any way.
Of course, since they’re cops, they haven’t been arrested but if you or I did this we’d be in a cage looking at years/decades behind bars.
Distrust armed agents of the State accordingly….
And then sometimes, well…you know. The agents of the state, trusted with the means, can’t help themselves from threatening those who would question them using those very things.
Whoops! He said the quiet part out loud.
Is he that arrogant, or just stupid?
— Amygator Redux 🐊 (@AmygatorRedux) August 16, 2026
…Shows his true authoritarian nature by saying: “I ought to do background checks on half the people that made comments.” Chetek, WI
Because Flock cameras can do all sorts of things, as I said earlier.
…On August 13, Flock Safety published a blog announcing a wide range of updates to how its network of cameras can be used. Among them is a new seven-day retention period for data captured by Flock cameras. Previously, this was 30 days with timesframes shorter or longer being available at the discretion of the agency or municipality using them. However, Flock states this is a “recommendation” and the cameras will “default to a 7-day retention.” Actual time for data retention is still determined by the end-user – aka law enforcement.
…Other updates include a requirement for all law enforcement agencies to use the company’s Audit Assistance system, which is supposed to monitor camera usage and detect “abnormal activity” to flag for review. Flock says just one-third of its 7,000-plus law enforcement customers use it now.
Flock insists that, as it said in the above article, ‘customers own and control the data.’
But that’s also turning out not to be true, as municipalities that signed on to the program are discovering to their horror when residents submit open records requests and the data is revealed.
A FOIA request revealed that, in just one town, 3rd parties (credit card companies, cell phone companies, alphabet agencies, retailers, foreign governments, etc…) accessed camera data more than 500,000 times in a 9 week period.
“Flock Safety could not guarantee that it’s not… pic.twitter.com/BaqKD22d49
— Mrgunsngear (@Mrgunsngear) July 18, 2026
…”Flock Safety could not guarantee that it’s not sharing information with federal agencies.” No s**t.
Several municipalities in CT are “turning off” their Flock cameras in response to what one FOIA request revealed. The problem – the towns don’t control/own the cameras nor the data they collect so they can’t turn them off. They can instruct their employees to not access them but Flock, a private company funded *almost exclusively* (outside of people like Marc Andreessen & his ilk) by taxpayer dollars, owns the devices and the data.
Plan accordingly…
TRUST US
UPDATE: Councilman Johnathan Coffman told me a resident’s open records request found nearly 460 agencies were tapped into the city’s Flock system.
He said only 80 agencies had city approval to do so.@cbsaustin https://t.co/ZCvlyp4MG5
— Vinny Martorano (@VinnyMartorano) August 26, 2026
Palo Alto, CA, is preparing to audit its system after a similar uncomfortable discovery.
I can see where the police, our own new police chief here in Pensacola included, appreciate the information the cameras bring to the table, especially in cities where there is active resistance to supporting law enforcement to begin with. I certainly get that.
Too, there is a reasonable argument that the cell phone in your pocket or purse is doing every bit, if not more, surveillance of your movements and personal life than the Flock cameras on a pole in town.
But I can voluntarily leave the cell phone at home.
So the question arises: how much of a surveillance state are we willing to tolerate?
The CEO of Flock has just decided to wade into the issue, and…ho, boy.
Wow. Talk about not being able to read the room.
— Meryl Yourish (@MerylYourish) August 26, 2026
That was not the thing to say, dude.
The country needs to find a “compromise” between privacy and safety, according to Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley.
“When people talk about just one of these, privacy or safety, they’re prioritizing the wrong thing, and what we have to prioritize as a country is compromise,” Langley said during a recent interview with Fox News. “How do we have our safety, and how do we balance privacy?”
Langley’s Fox News appearance was just the latest interview he’s given as the company faces a growing public outcry around concerns that Flock’s surveillance cameras, drones, and license plate recognition technology could be misused.
These concerns aren’t just hypothetical. The Washington Post recently identified 46 cases where police officers have been accused of using Flock technology for unauthorized purposes, including to stalk their wives, girlfriends, or exes.
After listening to an interview with one of the alleged victims, Langley told CBS News, “I apologize. It kills me that she went through that.” At the same time, he insisted, “I don’t think that Flock created police abuse. I think we’re the first company to ever shine a light on it and build the tools to find it.”
YOICKS
That couldn’t have gotten any creepier if he tried.
Senator Josh Hawley is opening an inquiry, but it’s up to people to come to their own informed decision about these things.
🚨BREAKING: Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) is grilling the CEO of Flock Safety about the tech company’s controversial Flock cameras, demanding answers as to “who has access to [Americans’] personal data and how.”
“Congress never authorized the network your industry has built. Your… pic.twitter.com/dnULq35RKm
— Off The Press (@OffThePress1) August 26, 2026
…”Congress never authorized the network your industry has built. Your company’s internal policies are, in practice, the only safeguards for hundreds of millions of Americans,” @HawleyMO wrote in a letter to CEO Garrett Langley on Wednesday.
And I don’t think the vast majority, after living through the Biden years, are in any mood to ‘compromise’ on much.
Remember what the older gentleman said at the beginning of this post? Someone starts sticking their nose into his constitutionally protected right to privacy, and he gets feeling choppy.
There could be a lot of that going around.
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