Here’s the idea for a story I am writing. I truly believe we all carry a bit of vigilante in our genes and the hero in my story tries to defend the others from the grip of a tyrannical government by taking on the “Black Crows” camera network. She (or he or they, I haven’t yet decided) sees no need to form groups or hold meetings to act to defend the homeland. I am proposing that my protagonist simply take evening walks, a bit covered up, including hands, perhaps sunglasses, and a hoodie, plus making sure to alter the walking gait (putting a stone in one of the shoes does the trick) just to admire the Black Crow cameras. Admiring them can take many forms, don’t you think? I’m still researching the many suggestions out in the ether to do write a well-crafted story. Please do remember that this is just the scenario I am using for my short story. I would never advocate for the destruction of anything. Absolutely no way! However, I do find that fiction can be a very good teacher. I’m open to suggestions that will help me flesh out my short story. Others might also find those suggestions to be of merit if they are also planning to write a story.
Well the time to stop it was yesterday, but let's begin now. I checked, and my very navy-blue county is using them. Appears they have been in place since 2022. Off to find out who is working to have them pulled. We have a county council election this year: time to make it an issue. Thanks Rick for keeping us on topic.
Flock: so well stated, Rick Wilson. Did no one ever read the book "1984" by George Orwell? It's here, people - it's a creeping scourge that will get worse if not stopped.
One of our local cops got sentenced this week to 6 months in the pokey for using Flock to personally track a woman. My local fireball of an alderman, a Libertarian, has been fighting tooth and nail to get the Flock camera contract debate into public open session rather than behind closed doors. Two neighboring cities have canceled their contracts due to discovering the lies you clearly described in Flock’s shady shambles of “promises”. Stasi 2026 in clear sight.
I’m not entirely sure that the one success of the Flock system is worth intrusion on the public’s privacy. On December 30, 2025, a Columbus area dentist, Dr. Spencer Tepe and his wife Monique were murdered in their home on their fifth wedding anniversary while their children slept. Flock cameras showed a suspect near the Tepe home. In January 2026, Monique Tepe’s ex-husband, Michael McKee was arrested on charges of aggravated murder of Spencer and Monique Tepe. His arrest occurred because the police had identified Dr. McKee in a Flock video. Dr. McKee was an Illinois vascular surgeon. He is currently awaiting trial on aggravated murder charges in the Franklin County (Ohio) Court of Common Pleas.
The issue I have with Flock is although it can be used for good, as it was in the Tepe murder case, it seems to be easily misused and lets some law enforcement personnel to illegally stalk or surveil ex-spouses or ex-partners. Despite rules for forbidding the use of Flock cameras for illegal purposes, human nature shows that there will be law enforcement who will break the rules and use Flock to illegally surveil ex-spouses or ex-partners. I can also see that it would be fairly easy for Trump and his minions to use Flock to illegally stalk and surveil Trump’s political opponents and critics. Photo identification systems are already known to be extremely unreliable when it comes to identifying Black or Brown men and women on camera. One Black man was arrested and locked up based upon a flawed computer photo identification, and while he was eventually ruled out as a suspect, photo identification is too unreliable to be used as the basis for a warrant. It would not surprise me if Flock had the same unreliability as computer photo identification.
Rick, this is an excellent article! Why oh why are there so many evil Billy Bob Bumblefucks out there?!?!? John Oliver just covered this in detail as well recently on Last Week Tonight. He mentioned a website that tracks where these flock cameras are located. It was a good resource to see if they are in your town. I cannot remember the name of the site he specifically named about but http://deflock.org is another. Thankfully my small town doesn’t have them….yet but a town just 10 minutes down the road has 3. It’s scary scary stuff. Thanks again, Rick!
Here’s the idea for a story I am writing. I truly believe we all carry a bit of vigilante in our genes and the hero in my story tries to defend the others from the grip of a tyrannical government by taking on the “Black Crows” camera network. She (or he or they, I haven’t yet decided) sees no need to form groups or hold meetings to act to defend the homeland. I am proposing that my protagonist simply take evening walks, a bit covered up, including hands, perhaps sunglasses, and a hoodie, plus making sure to alter the walking gait (putting a stone in one of the shoes does the trick) just to admire the Black Crow cameras. Admiring them can take many forms, don’t you think? I’m still researching the many suggestions out in the ether to do write a well-crafted story. Please do remember that this is just the scenario I am using for my short story. I would never advocate for the destruction of anything. Absolutely no way! However, I do find that fiction can be a very good teacher. I’m open to suggestions that will help me flesh out my short story. Others might also find those suggestions to be of merit if they are also planning to write a story.
Well the time to stop it was yesterday, but let's begin now. I checked, and my very navy-blue county is using them. Appears they have been in place since 2022. Off to find out who is working to have them pulled. We have a county council election this year: time to make it an issue. Thanks Rick for keeping us on topic.
Flock: so well stated, Rick Wilson. Did no one ever read the book "1984" by George Orwell? It's here, people - it's a creeping scourge that will get worse if not stopped.
One of our local cops got sentenced this week to 6 months in the pokey for using Flock to personally track a woman. My local fireball of an alderman, a Libertarian, has been fighting tooth and nail to get the Flock camera contract debate into public open session rather than behind closed doors. Two neighboring cities have canceled their contracts due to discovering the lies you clearly described in Flock’s shady shambles of “promises”. Stasi 2026 in clear sight.
I’m not entirely sure that the one success of the Flock system is worth intrusion on the public’s privacy. On December 30, 2025, a Columbus area dentist, Dr. Spencer Tepe and his wife Monique were murdered in their home on their fifth wedding anniversary while their children slept. Flock cameras showed a suspect near the Tepe home. In January 2026, Monique Tepe’s ex-husband, Michael McKee was arrested on charges of aggravated murder of Spencer and Monique Tepe. His arrest occurred because the police had identified Dr. McKee in a Flock video. Dr. McKee was an Illinois vascular surgeon. He is currently awaiting trial on aggravated murder charges in the Franklin County (Ohio) Court of Common Pleas.
The issue I have with Flock is although it can be used for good, as it was in the Tepe murder case, it seems to be easily misused and lets some law enforcement personnel to illegally stalk or surveil ex-spouses or ex-partners. Despite rules for forbidding the use of Flock cameras for illegal purposes, human nature shows that there will be law enforcement who will break the rules and use Flock to illegally surveil ex-spouses or ex-partners. I can also see that it would be fairly easy for Trump and his minions to use Flock to illegally stalk and surveil Trump’s political opponents and critics. Photo identification systems are already known to be extremely unreliable when it comes to identifying Black or Brown men and women on camera. One Black man was arrested and locked up based upon a flawed computer photo identification, and while he was eventually ruled out as a suspect, photo identification is too unreliable to be used as the basis for a warrant. It would not surprise me if Flock had the same unreliability as computer photo identification.
Rick, this is an excellent article! Why oh why are there so many evil Billy Bob Bumblefucks out there?!?!? John Oliver just covered this in detail as well recently on Last Week Tonight. He mentioned a website that tracks where these flock cameras are located. It was a good resource to see if they are in your town. I cannot remember the name of the site he specifically named about but http://deflock.org is another. Thankfully my small town doesn’t have them….yet but a town just 10 minutes down the road has 3. It’s scary scary stuff. Thanks again, Rick!
Right on! Terrific analysis of a very important part of the rise of techno-fascism all in the name of public safety.
Trump wants to create a surveillance system just as the PRC has done in China.
Thank you for the article, Mr. Wilson. Our city council has voted against flock cameras. Someone took down a flock camera here in Ks.