Flock cameras gifted by Horowitz Foundation, avoiding public oversight
- tptacek - 6758 sekunder sedanI think the money is a red herring here.
In Oak Park, Illinois, we ran into a rhyming version of this problem: the only control we had about what technology OPPD deployed was a spending limit ($15K, if I'm remembering right), above which they had to ask the board for an appropriation. Our pilot deployment of Flock cameras easily went underneath that limit.
I'm not reflexively anti-ALPR camera. I don't like them, but I do local politics and know what my neighbors think, and a pretty significant chunk of my neighbors --- in what is likely one of the top 10 bluest municipalities in the United States (we're the most progressive in Chicagoland, which is saying something) --- want these cameras as a response to violent crime.
But I do believe you have to run a legit process to get them deployed.
OPPD was surprised when, after attempting to graduate their pilot to a broader deployment, a minor fracas erupted at the board. I'm on Oak Park's information systems commission and, with the help of a trustee and after talking to the Board president, got "what the hell do we do about the cameras" assigned to my commission. In conjunction with our police oversight commission (but, really, just us on the nerd commission), we:
* Got General Orders put in place for Flock usage that limited it exclusively to violent crime.
* Set up a monthly usage report regime that allowed the Village to get effectiveness metrics that prevented further rollout and ultimately got the cameras shut down.
* Presented to the board and got enacted an ACLU CCOPS ordinance, which requires board approval for anything broadly construed as "surveillance technology" for policing, whether you spend $1, $100,000, or $0 on it.
Especially if you're in a suburb, where the most important units of governance are responsive to like 15,000-50,000 people, this stuff is all pretty doable if you engage in local politics. It's much trickier if you're within the city limits of a major metro (we're adjacent to Chicago, and by rights should be a part of it), but still.
- jmward01 - 7266 sekunder sedanThis is why gifts to government are problematic. They are never gifts, they are end-runs around accountability and should have exceptionally high scrutiny. It is hard to say they should be outright illegal since participating in government often blurs the line between gifting government and just normal participation. This though is clearly just an end-run around democracy.
- enahs-sf - 7347 sekunder sedanSo if I understand the totality of the situation here: mans donates cameras from company he invested in, gets tax break for doing so, helps portfolio co, furthers own self-interest and propels us towards surveillance state?
Did I miss anything?
- willturman - 7530 sekunder sedanHow long until YCombinator stops listing Flock "Safety" on their website as one of their proud VC success stories?
- rusty_rick - 7484 sekunder sedanSimilar post here on cities being gifted surveillance tools: https://computer.rip/2025-12-26-Flock-and-Urban-Surveillance...
- fantasizr - 5133 sekunder sedangotta feel bad for snowden's naivete that he thought his big disclosures would resonate with the public at large. All we got in the years since was more surveillance and for him, a life in exile.
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- solfox - 3383 sekunder sedanThis is the type of self-interested philanthropy that gives tech non-profits a bad name. Whatever happened to giving without the expectation of return?
- Spooky23 - 7604 sekunder sedanGross. Ethics laws should prohibit this.
- CrzyLngPwd - 6690 sekunder sedanIt's democracy in action, nothing to see, please move along.
- _DeadFred_ - 1793 sekunder sedanImagine if the government was as creative with getting things done people want as it is with getting things done that people don't want.
- almosthere - 7178 sekunder sedanAre people going to start "disabling flock cameras" when they are integrated into police vehicles?
- ChrisArchitect - 6072 sekunder sedanTitle is: Vegas police are big users of license plate readers. Public has little input because it’s a gift.
- bix6 - 7060 sekunder sedanThe US is such a joke. Free market my ass. What an end run around true competition. Just grift top to bottom.
- zerosizedweasle - 7830 sekunder sedanFascists, him and his VC partner
- xxxx_xxxx - 1587 sekunder sedan[dead]
- newzino - 5901 sekunder sedan[dead]
- n2d4 - 6521 sekunder sedanGenuine question, why does Flock get so much bad press in the US compared to other, much more infringing surveillance tech?
Your mobile provider knows your exact location at any point in time, and the NSA probably has access to most big tech data. Those tell you much more than a license plate reader.
In much of Europe, it is quite normal to see cameras everywhere both for traffic enforcement and for crime prevention. They are generally popular with the public, eg. in the UK with a >80% approval rate. In many cities, essentially every corner has CCTV.
Is it because Flock Safety also markets to private businesses, whereas in Europe CCTV and ANPR are state-run? Or is it a cultural thing, eg. because Americans value freedom or prefer driving over the speed limit, and Flock may end that?
Nördnytt! 🤓