In 26 of these cases, police investigators and prosecutors said the officers used the technology to spy on their wives, their girlfriends, their exes, their exes’ new partners or women they wanted to meet."
And 3 more just a week ago in Georgia: https://www.cbsnews.com/atlanta/news/3-georgia-deputies-arre...
If you're curious how this plays out in practice, investigation room video of an officer who confesses to using one to create an alert on a woman so he could pull her over later to get her instagram: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3UfAMzz9Lc
"Over 1,200 vendors had access to our information through the Flock system," Steinmetz said, adding he did not know the identities of all those entities.
Flock cameras and their ilk are not OK in a civilized, free society.
And also great timing because Flock almost swept it all under the rug [1]:
1: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/flock-ceo-apologizes-surveillan...
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The problem isn't flock either. The next system that replaces this is going to be self-charging and swapping out Drones that scan large areas 15 feet above traffic and follow people it hasn't seen on a daily basis (non-normal events). Good luck us.
1) They’ll survive through this hopefully with some kind of significant reform (on paper at the very least)
2) Flock will suffer from the PR and fail, with the idea being filed under “before its time.” Ultimately, the idea persists. Mass surveillance and LPR tech will continue to roll out under a different name or structure.
> Authorities believe the at-large criminals snuck up behind the cameras with spray foam canisters and sprayed the lenses before the cameras had a chance to ID them.
https://www.facebook.com/100064614555569/posts/1467922555371...
edit: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/08/19/we-foun...
> At least 69 police officials have been accused, charged with or convicted of misusing Flock’s system or other license-plate readers for unauthorized purposes, The Post has found, and in at least 15 of these cases, someone outside of the police department — including victims, activists and journalists — first identified the potential misuse.
> Records and interviews show that departments across the country do not regularly audit their officers’ Flock use, a practice recommended by the company, and some law enforcement agencies have no formal training programs or written policies describing how the technology should be used.
I'm far more inclined to trust my local department to manage their own database vs. a single database that everyone contributes to and reads from.
https://investor.axon.com/2020-04-02-Axon-Partners-with-Floc...
EDIT: There is a claim they terminated their partnership by last year..but who knows.
https://www.404media.co/cities-are-ditching-flock-immediatel...
Guns don't kill people, people do.
Automated license plate readers don't stalk jilted ex's, people do.
Pole-mounted facial recognition cameras don't spy on children in swimming pools, people do.