LETTER: Raising the alarm on surveillance cameras

We shouldn’t allow Flock Safety cameras into our community

Aug. 8, 2026

To the editor:

Our local communities should be aware of Flock Safety, an AI surveillance company that has installed over 110,000 of its cameras in 6,000 communities across the country, including here in Maine. Flock’s cameras are far more than license plate readers, and that’s a problem for privacy.

Flock Safety claims they are “Automatic License Plate Readers” or ALPRs, but they do much more than read plates. They can identify cars not only by those plates, but also by their specific “fingerprints” such as make and model, color, bumper stickers, dents or scratches. They also identify people – by race, sex, height, weight and clothing – which is why the stand-alone, solar powered version of these cameras are being placed in parks, playgrounds, trailheads and footpaths.

Flock Safety also markets drones that respond to incident locations, stating on its website that it can “Remotely deploy docked drones to geo-coordinates of 911 calls….gunshot detection, or manually by the operator. Arrive in seconds.”

Deflock.org, a website that crowd-sources the locations of Flock Safety cameras, claims there are dozens in the state of Maine, some as close as Brewer. South Portlandremoved its Flock cameras in June after public concern over privacy.

And we should be concerned: The Washington Post reported earlier this month that “rogue” police officers used their access to Flock cameras to stalk women.

Thankfully, there is a lot of pushback throughout the country. Towns and cities are waking up to what these are and contracts are being cancelled — but not enough of them.Let’s forgo the need for pushback by getting ahead of it. I don’t think any of us in any of our coastal towns (or anywhere for that matter) want to succumb to this sort of Orwellian surveillance. Let’s understand what these really are and be prepared to slam the door when the Flock Safety rep comes knocking at our towns.

Don’t believe the hype. Privacy is important. Let’s keep what little we have left.

Sincerely,

Gene Mirolli

Brooksville

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