On July 22, 2026, the city council of Irmo, South Carolina voted 4 to 1 to install 22 new Flock automatic license plate reader cameras. That brings the total in this town of roughly 12,000 people to 33, more cameras than police officers. More than 10 residents went to the podium that night to speak against the expansion. One was escorted from the meeting by police. The vote happened anyway.

What the city council did not tell the room is what Flock cameras actually do. Each one photographs passing vehicles and logs the license plate, make, model, color, and distinguishing features using an AI system. That data is uploaded to a national network. When Irmo police run a search, they may be accessing footage from cameras across the country. Police in Idaho, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and California can access Irmo's data too. Since 2023, Irmo PD has run at least 7,576 searches through Flock's network.

That network has serious problems. The Los Angeles Police Department recently dropped Flock after an internal audit found it led to 161 false accusations of car theft. Flock left 60 of its cameras exposed on the open internet with no login required, allowing anyone to access video archives, logs, and camera settings. In nearby Greer, South Carolina, two officers were fired after they used Flock to track people around town. The AI system that reads license plates makes mistakes, and police have insisted the mistakes were facts.

Irmo's residents showed up, were heard, and were ignored. A council should not expand surveillance infrastructure of this scale without asking the community first. Sign to demand the city of Irmo require public approval before adding any further Flock cameras.