A Tennessee county commissioner is going viral after he told a Flock Safety representative at a public meeting that the company’s CEO should be hanged for treason, marking a fever-pitch surrounding personal privacy and open public hostility over the nationwide rollout of the controversial surveillance tools.
“I believe that Flock right now is one of the most hated companies in America. They are one of the most corrupt companies in America,” Kingsport Commissioner Joe Carr told a Flock Safety representative at an Aug. 13 work session.
“Quite frankly, sir, I don’t think we can make America great again without hanging your CEO publicly for treason,” Carr continued. “Your company is an enemy of the American people.”
His comments were quickly interrupted by the leader of the commission meeting, who interjected, saying, “Mr. Carr, we are not going to threaten violence to anybody.”
Speaking with Fox News Digital, Carr looked to clarify his now-viral remarks.
“I didn’t call for lynchings, I called for due process,” Carr said. “You want to try the guy first, and I don’t support political random killings. I definitely don’t. But at the same time, you know, the American people are angry. I felt, and I think a lot of them felt, that no elected official was really going hard enough on this. And so I wanted to be the guy to do that.”
Carr’s criticism comes as Flock’s rollout of automated license plate readers draws national scrutiny over government surveillance, data security and personal privacy. Roughly 100 municipalities have canceled or deactivated their contracts with the security company.
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“I think probably the biggest story though isn’t really my comments, but people’s reaction to them,” Carr said. “You can go on any of the posts about it and like 99 percent of the replies are agreeing with me. And I think that’s where the American people are at right now.”
“People have a right to go about their business without being spied on,” he added. “Whether or not they’re going to work or going to church, picking their kids up from school, going to football practice or whatever, they have a right to do all these things without being spied on and without having the government logging their every move.”
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Within days of Carr’s comments in the work session, Sullivan County Sheriff Jeff Cassidy suspended the use of all 10 of Flock’s ALPRs in the county due to “legitimate concerns” surrounding “privacy, oversight, and government surveillance,” according to a press release.
Cassidy went on to ask the Sullivan County Commission to consider placing a referendum on the next local ballot “that would allow voters to decide” if the sheriff’s office can reinstate the technology.
“I believe the safeguards currently in place within our agency provide clear guidelines for the proper use of this technology. If an employee abuses or misuses the technology, we will take quick and decisive action, up to and including termination or prosecution when warranted,” the statement continued.
Despite the sheriff’s office’s assertion that the cameras had facilitated positive, crime-fighting results within the community — including an instance in which a Flock camera assisted in locating a child predator who had escaped federal custody in a neighboring city — Carr insists their risks outweigh the benefits.
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“If you use this inappropriately or if it gets hacked, and it’s a national security risk by a foreign actor, it could very quickly snowball and become something that outweighs all of the positives that have incurred up to that point,” Carr told Fox News Digital.
“Or, Heaven forbid, you get a government that starts acting totalitarian,” he continued. “And then they have the infrastructure in place, and you can’t really get rid of it once it’s there.”
More than 135,000 ALPRs have been identified throughout the country, with roughly four of every five cameras belonging to Flock, according to data from DeFlock.org.
Flock’s website says the company has operational cameras — which sit perched atop roadside poles — in 49 states, with each one capturing a vehicle’s characteristics and license plate number as it passes.
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The company insists the cameras do not record continuously or utilize facial recognition technology to identify individuals in a specific car. Its website adds that customers own the data in which Flock gathers and “every search requires a documented reason and is logged for review.”
However, instances of police officers using the technology to track previous romantic partners have made headlines in recent months, with some concerned citizens taking matters into their own hands by covering the cameras or shooting them with guns.
Last month, NPR reported that Flock cameras have been vandalized in at least 36 states throughout the country, further fueling the debate surrounding if the technology is truly welcome in the communities in which they were placed.
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Flock did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The company’s use of artificial intelligence continues to be a sticking point for critics of the cameras, with both Republicans and Democrats speaking out against the rollout of Flock’s technology.
“I mean, this has probably been one of the most unifying things that I’ve seen in my lifetime,” Carr said, adding, “It’s not really a left or right issue, because I think the one thing that people really understand innately, even if they’re not expressing it, is that they wouldn’t trust their worst enemy with the technology.”
The skepticism has been echoed by political leaders on both sides of the aisle.
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Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last week paused state funding for Flock cameras. In Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis warned against expanding a “digital AI surveillance state,” and the state’s Department of Transportation announced Monday that it was revoking existing permits for automated license plate readers within state highway rights-of-way.
Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro also hit back against the company, announcing he would encourage a bipartisan bill for an overall ban on Flock cameras throughout the state.
“We need to work together,” Carr told Fox News Digital. “It doesn’t matter who’s pulling with us on this. We need to work together and make sure that our descendants aren’t spied on forever.”
