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Flock Cameras: Public Safety Tool or Warrantless Surveillance Machine?
Simeon on Security ^ | 08 01 2026 | Simeon

Posted on 09/04/2026 8:12:17 AM PDT by yesthatjallen

The debate over Flock Safety cameras divides people in a way that almost nothing else does in technology policy. Those who have had a car stolen tend to love them. Those who study constitutional law tend to hate them. Both are reacting to something real.

This is an independent analysis of what these systems actually do, what the evidence says about their accuracy and misuse, and why the most important question is not whether cameras can photograph public streets — it is whether the government should build a searchable, warrantless database of everyone’s movements.

This topic generated significant public discussion in mid-2026. The video above covers a range of viewer perspectives and counterarguments worth considering alongside the analysis here.

Why Flock Cameras Are Different From Your Phone

The most common defense of Flock Safety cameras goes like this: your phone already tracks you everywhere. Police can get your GPS data with a warrant. Flock cameras are less precise than that. So why worry?

SNIP

(Excerpt) Read more at simeononsecurity.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: cameras; flock; flockcameras; flocksafety; privacy; surveillance
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To: yesthatjallen

Yet every time there is an unsolved crime (kidnapping, theft, etc.) people scream “how do we not have this perp on camera”?


41 posted on 09/04/2026 3:01:02 PM PDT by Fledermaus (Free Republic is now all Trump hatred all the time from a handful of "Me, Me, Me" babies. )
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To: thefactor

Yep


42 posted on 09/04/2026 3:03:52 PM PDT by Fledermaus (Free Republic is now all Trump hatred all the time from a handful of "Me, Me, Me" babies. )
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To: thefactor

Nice really stupid attempt at deflection factoad,

This thread is not about private businesses’ cameras, it’s about all the time government surveillance idjit ..


43 posted on 09/04/2026 3:33:58 PM PDT by A strike (fvckMI6 Drool Britannia & No more Dots)
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To: thefactor

“...if hundreds of people break into the Capitol it should be investigated.”

You mean the people waved in/invited by the Capitol Police, egged on by Fed provocateurs like Ray Epps ?
too dumb to post here. quit


44 posted on 09/04/2026 4:14:16 PM PDT by A strike (fvckMI6 Drool Britannia & No more Dots)
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To: thefactor

I wasn’t talking about private business I was talking about private homes they were asking the owners to register their security cameras. Same old method the first step in making registration of home security cameras mandatory. Understand me now? I posted the city name and a link to a local TV station as proof it indeed happened. I’m sorry it was too complicated for you this late in the day. BTW your posting makes zero sense kinda troll like.


45 posted on 09/04/2026 4:45:56 PM PDT by cva66snipe
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To: A strike
You just aren't very sophisticated. That's fine. I'll educate you a tad.

You have no, ZERO, expectation of privacy in your everyday travels throughout public spaces. A private business can take pictures of you as you enter their business. They can record you the entire time you choose to be on their property. Police officers can watch you or record you for a reasonable amount of time. If you are reasonably suspected of committing a crime, police can record you 24 hours a day if they see fit.

"Government surveillance" only really exists in your head. Nobody cares what YOU are doing. You are not an important person outside of your immediate sphere of influence. This is absolutely about a private business lawfully putting up/taking down cameras. You just like to yell about stuff to make yourself feel like you matter. You don't. Neither do I.

46 posted on 09/04/2026 4:54:31 PM PDT by thefactor
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To: cva66snipe
Ah yes. Local police departments asking the citizens they serve to help stop crime in their jurisdiction. That's definitely the "first step" to totalitarianism. Because, as we all know, police make the laws. Not the representatives you elect in your own state. /sarc

Lol. Thank you for the laugh.

47 posted on 09/04/2026 4:58:30 PM PDT by thefactor
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To: thefactor

Well actually it was LEA officials signing camera contracts without knowledge or approval approval of governing representatives. They got caught. Citizens were given ZERO say until county and city mayors and councilmembers found out what was going on behind everyone’s back. Now you trust them right? Shucks them engineering buddies was trying to make a dollar Constitutional Rights of We The People be ripped.


48 posted on 09/04/2026 5:11:32 PM PDT by cva66snipe
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To: A strike

“Tel it to the J6 zeks”

No doubt he thinks they DESERVED to rot in DC Central, since they were part of a conspiracy to OVERTHROW the US government. The fact that they all left the Capitol area when the cops told them to go home and get some dinner (and that they didn’t bring any weapons) is something these types would NEVER acknowledge.


49 posted on 09/04/2026 5:49:16 PM PDT by BobL (Trusting one's doctor is the #1 health mistake one can make.)
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To: A strike

“They are 100% full time surveillance of the population !”

Look at one through an Infrared Camera and you’ll see the IR ‘light’ flashing about 5 times per second...continuously. These cameras do a LOT MORE than just record license plates...for starters they get facial pictures of drivers going the other direction.


50 posted on 09/04/2026 5:51:54 PM PDT by BobL (Trusting one's doctor is the #1 health mistake one can make.)
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To: cva66snipe

Honestly, I’m not following you. Are you talking about people having cameras on their private property? And the police saying “hey if you have a doorbell camera maybe you can let us know so we can reach out if we need evidence in a criminal investigation.”? Is that what you’re talking about?


51 posted on 09/04/2026 5:52:22 PM PDT by thefactor
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To: A strike

“You mean the people waved in/invited by the Capitol Police, egged on by Fed provocateurs like Ray Epps ?
too dumb to post here. quit”

I’m just catching up on these posts - this clown DOES think that Jan. 6th was an Insurrection, and thus those Trump supporters who were waved-in needed to rot away in DC Central.


52 posted on 09/04/2026 5:54:36 PM PDT by BobL (Trusting one's doctor is the #1 health mistake one can make.)
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To: yesthatjallen

https://ktla.com/news/california/baby-dead-california-man-daughter-wanted-for-murder/

News inserting flock at the end of more stories like this.


53 posted on 09/04/2026 5:54:45 PM PDT by TornadoAlley3 ( I'm Proud To Be An Okie From Muskogee)
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To: thefactor

Explaining things to you is like teaching poker to a snail.

That EVERYONE already knows there is no right to privacy in public seems like a novel thought to you. Well DUH Sherlock, that is not what is being discussed by the non dense people here.
It is NOT just about a private business putting up cameras.
I’m almost astounded that you can’t understand this.

The issue is that Flock cameras are de facto full time surveillance which can, will be and have been illegally used by agents of government whether local, state or federal.

Educating YOU is a fool’s errand and total fail.


54 posted on 09/04/2026 6:06:24 PM PDT by A strike (fvckMI6 Drool Britannia & No more Dots)
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To: thefactor
Yes that is part of it along with FLOCK right before the installment were made known. These so called volunteer efforts lead into mandatory compliance laws real fast. It really sounds like something from Hitler play book Be A Spy on your neighbors for the government. They only want you used to the idea first of telling them you have cameras. . Just like the Flock concept. First there were needed traffic flow cameras installed on interstates which was all those cameras could do and it was so traffic control engineers watching them could issue alerts like Ramp Backed up. It went from there and next thing ya know surveillance cameras are popping up in neighborhoods.

I live in a very rural area they are even trying to install them in my neighborhood. Knox County is taking them down after a lot of angry citizens from all political parties showed up to protest them. I have a feeling my county will order them removed as well. People are rightfully angry.

This is not a DEM vs GOP matter this is government far overstepping it's Constitutional Restraints matter. It's time people started saying No and I'm glad to see it finally happening.

55 posted on 09/04/2026 6:11:38 PM PDT by cva66snipe
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To: DugwayDuke
Furthermore, there are actions the accused (for lack of a better term) can take to contest the claim.

I must have missed that part of the Constitution where one is presumed guilty until proven innocent.

56 posted on 09/05/2026 4:49:28 AM PDT by Sirius Lee ("Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.)
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To: Sirius Lee

Sirius Lee wrote: “I must have missed that part of the Constitution where one is presumed guilty until proven innocent.”

Did you also miss the part where a judge must determine if the person is a danger to himself or others before removing the weapons?
How is this different from a judge deciding that a person is a danger to himself or others and commits that person to a mental institution?


57 posted on 09/05/2026 5:15:42 AM PDT by DugwayDuke (Most pick the expert who says the things they agree with.)
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To: chickenlips

It seems to me that the use of these Flock cameras is to track anybody thet want to, and there may be some criminals in the bunch. But first they need to get something set up so that certain layers, courts & Judges do not conspire to release criminals while possibly working to entrap ordinary citizens. Our justice systems just don’t seem to be doing the job at times, while this Flock system would seem to be useful mostly as a system to entrap more & more people instead of just the ones who are slipping through the fingers of jstice. Is Flock doing anything to bring men like Geo. Soros to justice? That’s just one question.


58 posted on 09/05/2026 6:20:25 AM PDT by oldtech (oltech)
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To: chickenlips

It seems to me that the use of these Flock cameras is to track anybody thet want to, and there may be some criminals in the bunch. But first they need to get something set up so that certain layers, courts & Judges do not conspire to release criminals while possibly working to entrap ordinary citizens. Our justice systems just don’t seem to be doing the job at times, while this Flock system would seem to be useful mostly as a system to entrap more & more people instead of just the ones who are slipping through the fingers of jstice. Is Flock doing anything to bring men like Geo. Soros to justice? That’s just one question.


59 posted on 09/05/2026 6:21:56 AM PDT by oldtech (oltech)
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To: DugwayDuke

What law was broken requiring a man prove himself innocent?


60 posted on 09/05/2026 8:08:32 AM PDT by Sirius Lee ("Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.)
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