About

Flock Cameras are AI-powered police traffic cameras made by Flock Safety that purportedly document every passing car's model, make, color, plate number, direction and the time that they passed the camera.

Flock cameras became the subject of controversy and backlash in the 2020s by people who believed they had the potential to be used as police and government mass surveillance devices, as they allow police to know the location of and time when anyone has passed by one of the cameras, even when no crimes have been committed. Reportedly, police officers do not need a warrant to search the Flock system, just a stated reason.

As awareness and backlash towards Flock cameras spread, people began destroying the cameras as an act of protest against mass surveillance in the U.S. In late 2026, the De-Flock America campaign, a campaign to destroy Flock cameras on Halloween night 2026, spread online as controversy continued to brew around the devices and company.

History

Flock Security was founded in 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia, and in 2018 they began supplying police and law enforcement agencies with Flock cameras. Flock cameras are traffic cameras that document a variety of details about the cars that pass by them, including license plate numbers, colors, the times that cars pass by and more. Information is stored in the Flock database.

In August 2025, Flock Security announced that they were adding AI tools to police Flock cameras.^[1] This includes the Condor camera, which uses AI to pan, tilt and zoom in on specific details of vehicles.^[2]

In 2026, as backlash grew, many instances of people breaking, vandalizing or damaging the cameras emerged.

For instance, on August 26th, 2026, three teens from Chester County, South Carolina, were reportedly arrested for destroying a Flock camera.^[3]

That day, it was also reported that a police officer was arrested for abusing Flock to stalk an ex-girlfriend.^[9]

Online Presence

On December 22nd, 2025, YouTuber^[4] Benn Jordan posted a video about how he managed to gain access to the footage taken by numerous Flock cameras using a security vulnerability. The video garnered over 1.4 million views in eight months.

In the video, Jordan found that none of the data was encrypted and details how the AI integration works to zoom in on cars and people. In one section, he shows footage of a Flock camera zooming in on someone's phone screen. Jordan also shows how someone could use the cameras to track a citizen.

Backlash / Discourse

Flock cameras became an increasing subject of backlash between 2025 and 2026, as fears that they can be used for mass surveillance by the police grew. As a form of protest, some people started destroying Flock cameras and encouraging others to do so.

On July 16th, 2026, TikToker^[5] @nomark.project posted a video in which he destroys Flock cameras using the cover of smoke from wildfires in Minnesota, garnering over 5.5 million views in a month.

On July 25th, Instagram^[6] user sean_gatz posted a video tutorial on how to destroy Flock cameras, garnering over 4 million views in a month.

On August 3rd, 2026, X^[7] user @cowdealer posted a Pepe Silvia meme reading, "Drug dealer I met at a party showed me a huge ass map of his daily commute that avoided every flock camera," garnering over 171,000 likes in three weeks.

De-Flock America Campaign

In August 2026, the De-Flock America movement spread online. This social media movement encourages people to disable Flock cameras on Halloween night 2026, using their costumes as a way to hide their identities.

On August 18th, 2026, TikToker^[8] @nowthisimpact posted a video about the movement, which also shares examples of police abusing Flock cameras, garnering over 728,000 likes in nine days.

Search Interest

External References