When it comes to fighting Big Tech billionaires\u2019 Flock cameras, the left and the right are finding themselves on the same side.<\/span><\/p>\n The company Flock Safety has been quietly putting more than 100,000 AI-powered automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) in <\/span>over 5,000 communities<\/a> across the country over the past several years. The company \u2014 which is jointly funded by far-right billionaires Peter Thiel and Marc Andreesen through their respective companies Founders Fund<\/a> and Andreesen Horowitz<\/a> \u2014 contracts with local police departments, businesses, and even the boards of homeowners\u2019 associations. According to the ACLU, Flock cameras conduct more than 20 billion vehicle scans every month.<\/p>\n Flock cameras accumulate a lot more data than just license plate numbers. In addition to capturing vehicle data like whether a car has distinguishing features like racks, bumper stickers, and dents, Flock Safety has a <\/span>searchable database<\/a> in which police can search for things like \u201cwhite car with racing stripe\u201d or \u201cred pickup truck with dog in bed.\u201d Flock\u2019s data remains on its servers for 30 days, and the company boasts<\/a> that its cameras have helped contribute to more than 700,000 crimes being solved every year.<\/p>\n However, Flock Safety has lately come under fire for allowing what is being referred to as \u201c<\/span>side-door access<\/a>\u201d in which agencies that don\u2019t have individual Flock contracts can still access the data collected by its nationwide camera network. According to 404 Media, this includes federal agencies like US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which has tapped into the Flock network to assist in the Trump administration\u2019s mass deportation campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n States Newsroom reported last year that Flock cameras in multiple cities are also connected to <\/span>fusion centers<\/a>, which are the facilities in which local, state, and federal law enforcement all share data. This means that Todd Blanche\u2019s Department of Justice, Kash Patel\u2019s FBI, and Markwayne Mullin\u2019s Department of Homeland Security can all access a comprehensive searchable database that tracks virtually every Americans\u2019 movements. One resident in Windsor, Connecticut learned through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that outside agencies accessed Flock camera data more than 500,000 times<\/a> in just a nine-week period.<\/p>\n 404 Media <\/span>recently reported<\/a> that searches of Flock\u2019s \u201cFreeForm\u201d database go well beyond vehicles. Law enforcement agencies have searched Flock for everything from \u201cheavy-set male with a black and white hat\u201d to \u201cperson on skateboard.\u201d The outlet noted that the Chamblee, Georgia Police Department searched for \u201cfemale with Ugg boots\u201d while police in Brookhaven, Georgia entered a search query for \u201ctall man.\u201d And as one could expect, this immense level of surveillance power has led to misuse by law enforcement and innocent people being wrongly accused of crimes.<\/p>\n Three police officers in Fayetteville, Georgia <\/span>were fired<\/a> in July after internal audits of Flock\u2019s database showed the officers conducting searches outside the scope of official investigations. The fired officers, whose names have not been publicly released, were seen searching for the license plates of relatives and of their own vehicles. The department asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) to conduct a criminal investigation, though as of this writing no charges have been filed. That\u2019s just one example of many in Georgia alone:<\/p>\n Atlanta News First reported that several other police officers in Georgia <\/span>were terminated<\/a> after combing through Flock\u2019s database for non-work-related reasons, including three Cherokee County Sheriff\u2019s Office deputies and a Greene County deputy in June.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/li>\n In DeKalb County, which is part of the Atlanta metro area, deputy Sgt. Kabiru Salawu \u2014 a 17-year veteran of the DeKalb County Sheriff\u2019s Office \u2014 was <\/span>fired and charged<\/a> with felony violation of oath by a public officer. He also faces a misdemeanor charge of misuse of license plate data.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Henry County, Georgia officer Patrick Isbell was fired and charged with misuse of license plate data on July 10. He told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution \u201cthere are substantial and legitimate questions\u201d regarding his former employer\u2019s compliance with state law governing the use of ALPRs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n In late June, the Richmond County, Georgia Sheriff\u2019s Office announced that Deputy Jaquarius Yarbrough was <\/span>fired and charged<\/a> with felony violation of oath by a public officer. He also got slapped with a felony charge for violating Georgia\u2019s law prohibiting law enforcement from retaining license plate data obtained from ALPRs.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Former Coffee County Deputy Chris Ashley Rozar was <\/span>arrested this May<\/a> and charged with violation of oath, computer invasion of privacy, misuse of license plate data, and stalking. Coffee was terminated in 2024.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Last November, Braselton, Georgia Police Chief Michael Steffman resigned from his post after the GBI found that he misused data from ALPRs. Steffman was <\/span>charged with stalking and harassment<\/a> hours after his resignation. The charges came several months after a woman in Jefferson, Georgia who unsuccessfully applied for a restraining order against Steffman, accused him of stalking her with ALPRs.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n In Jerome County, Idaho, Sheriff George Oppedyk tracked his wife\u2019s movements <\/span>over 700 times<\/a>, and began each search query with \u201ctest\u201d in an attempt to avoid setting off internal audit systems. He was effectively forced into retirement in April of this year, less than two years into his term.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Holiday Hills, Illinois Police Chief William C. Copp, who also worked as a police officer in Prairie Hills, Illinois, was <\/span>arrested in June<\/a> and charged with two felony counts of official misconduct after he was caught using ALPR data to track people he knew, including the ex-boyfriend of a woman he dated.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n In 2025, a Texas sheriff\u2019s deputy used Flock cameras to <\/span>track a woman<\/a> who traveled out of state to get an abortion. Deputies initiated a \u201cdeath investigation\u201d<\/a> of a \u201cnon-viable fetus,\u201d logged evidence of the woman getting an abortion, and consulted local prosecutors about whether she could be charged. The Johnson County District Attorney\u2019s Office ultimately told police the woman couldn\u2019t be charged.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n In addition to police officers being caught misusing Flock\u2019s database for purposes that weren\u2019t related to their jobs, police also <\/span>wrongly accused<\/a> a woman of a crime she didn\u2019t commit solely due to Flock cameras. NewsNation reported in July that police showed up at the home of Denver, Colorado resident Chrisanna Elser and accused her of stealing a package from a front porch in a different town. Columbine Valley Police Department Officers noted that Flock cameras showed the exact time she left her home, and the exact time of her return trip.<\/p>\n Officers only let up after Elser responded to their allegations with video evidence she <\/span>gathered on her own<\/a> from the camera mounted to her vehicle and from her friend\u2019s Ring doorbell camera. She told reporters that the Flock cameras made her feel \u201cguilty until you can prove yourself innocent,\u201d and that just merely driving through town has now become somewhat unnerving given how closely her movements are tracked with Flock cameras.\u00a0<\/p>\n Americans across the country have lately been mobilizing at city council meetings to demand their local governments cut off their contracts with Flock Safety. According to the site <\/span>DeFlock.org<\/a>, which is an open-source platform that tracks ALPRs like Flock cameras, 89 cities and towns<\/a> have already either deactivated their Flock cameras or cancelled their contracts altogether.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cities that have ended their relationship with Flock Safety include Democratic strongholds like Los Angeles, California and Madison, Wisconsin, as well as rural communities in deep-red states like Green River, Wyoming and Dutchtown, Missouri. In Washington, Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado) and Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) have cosponsored the <\/span>Surveillance Accountability Act<\/a>, which would require law enforcement agencies to obtain a warrant before police could access ALPR data for any individual. The bill is currently awaiting action in the House Judiciary Committee.<\/p>\n One flashpoint of local resistance to Flock cameras has been in Cleveland, Ohio, where residents consistently lobbied their city council to allow the city\u2019s Flock Safety contract to expire at the end of June. On June 17, the Cleveland City Council\u2019s Safety Committee <\/span>voted 3-1<\/a> to allow the contract to expire without renewal. But despite the vote and the contract lapsing, the city\u2019s Flock cameras remained on and continued to collect data while Flock Safety pushed hard for a re-vote.<\/p>\n The Safety Committee ultimately <\/span>reversed course<\/a> and approved a contract renewal on July 7. The full council voted 9-6<\/a> on July 15 to keep its estimated 100 Flock cameras online through December of 2026 by extending the city\u2019s contract with the company. Council member Jasmin Santana, whose daughter was held up at gunpoint, conducted her own canvass of her ward to gauge support of Flock cameras and said her constituents were divided roughly 50-50 on whether to keep them.<\/p>\n When residents perceive that their pleas to their local governments are falling on deaf ears, that\u2019s leading some of them to take matters into their own hands. In Rio Rancho, New Mexico, 44 year-old resident Jevon Martinez <\/span>allegedly destroyed<\/a> at least three of the cameras and replaced them with notes that read: \u201cYou\u2019re welcome, Republic of New Mexico.\u201d In Houston, Texas, local ABC affiliate KTRK counted <\/span>at least six Flock cameras<\/a> that had been destroyed in the Greater Houston\/Harris County area.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n One man recently went viral after recording a satirical video in which he urged viewers to \u201c<\/span>leave Flock cameras alone<\/a>,\u201d stressing there was \u201cno need\u201d to attach flyers to Flock camera poles alerting drivers that the cameras were monitoring their movements. He also sarcastically asked viewers to not put plastic bags over the cameras, saying it costs Flock Safety time and money to remove them.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI know you can use a high-powered $50 blue or green laser to permanently blind Flock cameras, but come on guys, why?\u201d The man said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cDefinitely do not use the camera map on <\/span>DeFlock.org<\/a> to find cameras, approach them from behind on foot with a spray paint extender and spray them. If you do do that, at least make sure that you have your phone in your pocket, so we can identify you using Bluetooth and 5G,\u201d he added. \u201cThere\u2019s no reason to spend $20 on a hard hat and high-visibility vest, and then buy a $30 Sawzall with diamond-tipped blades to cut down the entire pole.\u201d<\/p>\n The Wall Street Journal <\/span>reported in June<\/a> that many Americans \u201chave attacked the company\u2019s cameras with saws, spray-painted the lenses or covered them with stickers.\u201d Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley previously referred to DeFlock.org<\/a> as a \u201cterroristic organization,\u201d though he has since walked back those comments<\/a> as public outrage over Flock cameras continues to build.\u00a0<\/p>\n Much like <\/span>the resistance to AI data centers<\/a>, the resistance to Flock surveillance cameras transcends partisan boundaries, and has brought the left and the right together against Big Tech billionaires who are trying to force America into becoming even more of a police state. And in an equally similar fashion, activists are showing that the best way to deliver real results and beat back Big Tech\u2019s assault on our civil liberties is to organize at the local level, show up at city council meetings, and pressure local elected officials to take the side of their constituents over Silicon Valley. The defining fight of 2026 may not be Democrats vs. Republicans, but rather everyday citizens vs. tech billionaires. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Carl Gibson is a journalist whose work has been published in CNN, USA Today, the Guardian, the Washington Post, the Houston Chronicle, the Louisville Courier-Journal, Barron\u2019s, Business Insider, the Independent, and NPR, among others. Follow him on Bluesky <\/span>@crgibs.bsky.social<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.nationofchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/standwithus.png\"\/)
<\/a><\/div>\nCops Can\u2019t Be Trusted with Flock\u2019s Intrusive Mass Surveillance Tech<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Mass Resistance Against Flock Cameras Is Widespread and Bipartisan<\/span><\/h2>\n