Flock worker calls police on InvestigateTV reporter filming public camera installation
The irony is the whole story, and the details make it sharper.
On August 19, 2026, Atlanta News First / InvestigateTV chief investigator Brendan Keefe got a tip from a family member that a Flock Safety technician was upgrading a license-plate reader on a public street about a mile from Keefe’s home in suburban Atlanta. He parked at a distance on the public road, put on a yellow safety vest and a station-logo hat, put a press placard on the dash, and started filming. He did not approach the worker or speak to him.
The installer saw the camera, packed up immediately, and left. Keefe followed several cars back—not bumper-to-bumper—hoping to document the next public install. The technician called 911. Forsyth County answered first and transferred the call. On the recording, the worker said he worked for Flock Safety, that he was “getting followed,” and that he was being “harassed, pretty much. Taking videos and pictures.” He described Keefe’s car and later Keefe himself, including the vest and hat. He also said he didn’t want his full name on the 911 recording.
Minutes later, after Keefe entered Milton, Georgia, one officer pulled him over. Two more units arrived. The stop lasted about 17 minutes. Keefe identified himself as press documenting camera installations. Bodycam shows the officer telling a supervisor that Keefe was behind the van but “not like right on his bumper,” was not chasing him, and did not appear to be stalking or breaking any law. The officer also relayed the installer’s concern: he was “just an employee,” didn’t want to be identified on TV, and worried about targeting of him or his family.
Keefe put the contradiction on the record: the company is installing cameras that track everyone’s movements in public, but the installer objected to being filmed in public. The officer said she was only passing along the worker’s concern, then added that media should “probably be a little more careful on who we put on TV.” No citation, no charge. Keefe was released.
Flock’s statement afterward: the company “does not object to members of the public or press photographing Flock cameras or personnel in public.” Field employees and contractors “are expected to prioritize their safety and may contact law enforcement when they believe they are being threatened, harassed, followed, or otherwise face a safety concern.”
That was not the only 911 call. In June 2026, a Flock employee at the company’s Smyrna, Georgia, distribution center called police on YouTube creators filming from public areas outside the facility. The caller identified the company as the one whose cameras “solve 20% of crime across America,” asked for “a favor,” and repeatedly raised the possibility the filmmakers might be armed even after saying he had not seen weapons. Police issued a trespass warning. No charges. One of the people there, security researcher Benn Jordan, later called it “absurd” that a company built on collecting everyone’s plate data would have staff scrubbing their own personal information.
The larger backdrop is the fight InvestigateTV and others have been documenting since early 2026: Flock’s network of roughly 120,000 ALPRs, reports of unauthorized or sloppy searches, cities canceling contracts, and the company arguing that a license plate is “plain-view information” you cannot opt out of unless you “opt out of society.” The installer who called 911 was doing the same thing the cameras do to everyone else—recording a person in a public place—and then treating being recorded as an emergency. That is the rest of the story.
