Resistance to Flock Cameras and Police Surveillance Is Exploding

[cbabe]

https://truthout.org/articles/resistance-to-flock-cameras-and-police-surveillance-is-exploding/

Resistance to Flock Cameras and Police Surveillance Is Exploding

Backlash to Flock cameras and AI systems is exploding after scandals, including police using the tech to stalk women.

By Mike Ludwig , TRUTHOUT
Published May 22, 2026

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Last week inside a packed city council chamber in Asheville, North Carolina, residents who had waited hours to share a public comment chanted “Shame! Shame! Shame!” as their elected leaders voted 6-1 to build a “real-time intelligence center” for local police. Unless the city changes course, police will soon have a “wall of screens” fed by high-tech cameras to monitor a city of 95,000 people.

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In Troy, New York, heated controversy over Flock cameras led the Republican mayor to declare a “state of emergency” to keep using the technology. The city council is now suing the mayor over her declaration as it considers putting legislative limits on the cameras. In Cleveland, Ohio, records unearthed by journalists this week show 160 immigration-related searches in Flock audit logs over a month-long period of the city’s Flock camera and surveillance drone network. The revelation comes months after city officials assured residents that protections were in place to prevent such searches and keep Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from exploiting the data for President Trump’s mass deportation campaign.

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In at least 16 recent cases, local police officers lost their jobs after accessing license plate reader data to stalk ex-partners or other romantic interests, according to the Institute for Justice. Internal investigations uncovered the abuse in only a few cases. Most of the cases came to light after victims reported the offending officers’ behavior to other police.

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Flock Safety claims its surveillance networks are not “mass surveillance.” The company says most data collected is deleted on a set schedule, but critics point out that data and camera footage is retained to train AIs and even sent overseas to be reviewed by gig workers.

… more .. warrantless surveillance…

[ultralite001]

1. In our area there has been a proliferation of

License plate “masks”… covers that look like
those “secure” envelopes one would use once upon a time to prevent theft… A pawn shop is hawking Super-duper highly reflective paint / spray to coat your license plate to baffle the Flock… Go figure…