Across the US, people are dismantling and destroying Flock surveillance cameras

Across the U.S., those little solar-topped poles are showing up smashed, and the internet’s having a field day. Flock’s license-plate cameras track cars and share data with agencies like ICE, often without a warrant. After a packed La Mesa meeting begged officials to drop the system, the city renewed anyway—and that’s when two Flock units turned up trashed. The mood online? Hot. One camp cheers it as the moment communities finally push back against a “spy grid.” Others warn that the hammer may swing back hard. And the middle crowd says: we hate the creepiness, but cameras do help victims too.

The comments read like a street-corner debate. Privacy hawks insist people “always hated the cameras,” while a cautionary crew drops a Napster-era warning: prosecute a few vandals, scare the rest. A pragmatic voice pleads for public oversight: if we must have cameras, stop hiding the specs and rules. Meanwhile, humor breaks the tension—one user’s “drone goes ‘boop’ on the lens” line became the meme of the thread. There’s even a global twist: a Brazilian commenter says stolen cams are a hot market, turning “safety tech” into loot. The wider vibe? From an Oklahoma man arrested after talking a few seconds too long to gig workers demanding pay, the community’s calling it: surveillance is rising, and patience is falling.