Flock Installer Called the Police on a Journalist Who Was Filming Him

Flock Safety, known for a network of roughly 120,000 automatic license-plate recognition cameras, faced mounting criticism all summer. A number of cities canceled their contracts, and lawmakers at various levels are debating or have already enacted bans on such technology. Flock itself insists that new installations are outpacing cancellations by a ratio of ten to one.

Against this backdrop came an episode that vividly illustrated the paradox of it all. On August 19, in a suburb of Atlanta, InvestigateTV reporter Brendan Keefe tried to film the installation of an upgraded Flock camera on a public street. He parked at a distance, put on a yellow vest and a cap with the station's logo, and set his press credential out on the dashboard. Spotting the camera, the technician hurriedly packed up his equipment and drove off; Keefe followed, hoping to film the next installation. In response, the worker called 911, complaining that he was being “followed and filmed.”

Soon three police cars pulled the journalist over at once. Bodycam footage shows the officer, after reporting to her superiors, explaining to Keefe that the installer was worried about being identified and ending up “on the news,” and was also concerned about his privacy. To that, Keefe asked the obvious question: does a worker in a public place have any right to privacy — the very thing critics accuse Flock itself of violating? The officer dodged the question, but noted that “with the First Amendment and all that,” one ought to be careful in deciding whom to put on television. Seventeen minutes later, the journalist was let go.

Not the First Time

Something like this had happened before. On June 5, a Flock worker called the police on a group of YouTubers filming near the company's distribution center in Smyrna. Speaking with the dispatcher, he introduced himself, pointed out that the firm “solves 20% of crime nationwide,” and hinted three times that the people filming might be armed — though he had seen no weapon. No one was detained, but the participants were warned against remaining on the property.

Among those stopped was security researcher Benn Jordan, who had previously found an encryption vulnerability that allowed access to dozens of Flock camera video feeds. He called the situation absurd: a company that collects data on every passing vehicle every day and hands it over to the police was now doing everything it could to conceal information about its own employees.

The irony deepened at the annual Flock Forward 2026 conference in Atlanta: both Jordan and the InvestigateTV journalists were barred from the event, which was described as “for clients only.” And in an April interview, a company representative, asked why citizens couldn't opt out of surveillance, answered bluntly: the only way to opt out was to “leave society.”

In an official statement, Flock stressed that it has no objection to its cameras and staff being filmed, but that employees have the right to call the police if they feel threatened or harassed.

Source: Hacker News