Jevon Martinez livestreamed himself removing 10 Flock Safety cameras in Bernalillo County, but authorities say eight belonged to neighborhood associations.
Page A2From§Eachthe early evening edition — 12 September 2026
Man arrested for tearing down cameras Congress has a bill to ban, still parked in committee
As it ran on the front
The chief opens the file the way it opens most weeks: a citizen took a problem into their own hands, and the badge showed up before the toolbox did. On September 12, a livestreamer in Bernalillo County pulled ten Flock Safety cameras off their poles on camera, watched the county confirm eight belonged to neighborhood associations, and got arrested for doing it. The crew doesn't run vigilante jobs. We run the job that's already permitted and nobody's finished.
Which is where the planner starts flipping through the shop's own back catalog. Nine days before that arrest, on September 3, Rep. Thomas Massie filed the Flock-Off Act — a bill that does statutorily, and nationwide, exactly what that livestreamer did with two hands: block any federal dollar from being used to buy, install, maintain, operate, or upgrade an automated license plate reader or biometric camera. It isn't a concept. It's a filed bill sitting in a committee drawer, forged and ready, gathering the specific kind of dust that only comes from nobody picking a tool up.…
…(cont) The tinkerer likes to know why a finished tool sits unused, so they check the shelf it's sitting on. On September 4, the same week protests over the cameras were mounting, The Intercept reported that Flock's donations to the associations of the mayors and governors who control its contracts were spiking. Money doesn't make a bill stop existing. It just makes sure nobody carries it to the floor.
The muscle wants to know what the network actually does while everyone argues the paperwork, so they pull the September 10 file: a longtime member of the Albany Sheriff's office got arrested for using a Flock camera to track an ex. Not a hypothetical. A camera built to read traffic, pointed at a person, by someone holding the keys to it.
The pilot's the one who has to fly this thing to an actual vote, and she notices the Daily Caller already printed the ending: "America Is Slamming The Brakes." No brakes got slammed. The bill sat exactly where it was filed, the same week the Caller called the job done.
So the assembly is simple, because it's already built: a filed bill, a documented abuse, a funding spigot with names on the checks. The crew's fix isn't a new tool. It's the old one, off the shelf, carried the last hundred feet to a floor vote — before the next person tries it with a crowbar and a livestream.
“They arrest a guy for doing with his hands what Congress could do with a signature, and the signature never happens because the same outfit cutting checks to your mayor's association is cutting checks near the people who'd have to schedule the vote. That's not gridlock, that's a toll booth with a lobbyist standing on it. And somebody already got caught using one of these cameras to track an ex — so ask who's watching the ones doing the watching.”
“Look, one bad actor misused a system, that's a personnel issue, not an indictment of the technology — did I just call somebody stalking their ex a personnel issue? That's not how I meant that. These cameras keep neighborhoods safe, the funding question and the donation question are two totally separate questions, and nobody serious thinks a few checks to the mayors' association has anything to do with why a bipartisan bill can't get a hearing.”
The receipts
America Is Slamming The Brakes On The Camera Network Tracking Your Every Move
A longtime member of the Albany Sheriff's office was arrested Wednesday after investigators said they uncovered she allegedly used Flock cameras.
Mayors and governors control many of Flock’s contracts for its AI-powered surveillance cameras. It’s donating to their associations. The post Flock Donations to Local Politicians’ Groups Skyrocket as Protests Against AI Cameras Mount appeared first on The Intercept .
· Massie unveils Flock-Off Act aimed at restricting surveillance cameras from the morgue, 3 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.