Records from a single town in Illinois reveal more than 1,200 Flock searches investigate cases of loitering. The post Cops Are Using Flock to Spy on People for the Crime of Standing Around appeared first on The Intercept .
Page A12From§Eachthe coffee break edition — 15 September 2026
Bill to stop cops running plates for the crime of standing around still sits in committee.
“A CEO caught calling real reporting fake, cops running a Wisconsin village's plates because people there were standing around, and the bill that would defund the whole camera network stuck in committee since Labor Day — that vote isn't stuck by accident. Somebody's cutting a check to keep that network running, and it sure isn't the village. Your plate's in the file either way, whether you did something or just stood there.”
“These cameras solve real crime, and if a California department ran a plate from Wisconsin there's presumably a legitimate reason, we just aren't always shown the file — that's how investigations work. The bill's only been in committee a couple weeks, and regular order takes time, you can't just rush a — well, it's been two weeks. And sure, the CEO told cops an accurate story was "entirely false," but companies push back on bad press, that's not — did I just defend that? That's not usually my angle.”
The receipts
Police departments with Flock camera fever are 'addicted' to the nationwide surveillance tool.
· Massie unveils Flock-Off Act aimed at restricting surveillance cameras from the morgue, 3 Sep 2026
· Flock’s CEO Is Lying to Cops About 404 Media's Reporting on Abortion Case from the morgue, 26 Aug 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.