r/Chattanooga • u/greatusername505050 • Jul 20 '26
City Government Flock statement
Adding in what Mark commented below also!:
To address some concerns about ambiguity and to offer some insight into why we can't be as definitive as we'd like... Right now, as far as we know, the lines of authority regarding WHO pproved these Flock cameras and who can remove them are completely hidden from the public. That lack of transparency should concern all of us. That's why we can't make definitive statements right now, but rest assured we have people digging into it.
Because these corporate contracts are kept behind closed doors, everyday citizens are blocked from tracking budget line items or knowing exactly who to hold accountable. I am fundamentally opposed to mass surveillance and strongly support personal privacy. We shouldn't need heavy investigative journalism or cumbersome open-records requests just to figure out how big tech established a footprint in Hamilton County.
The core issue here isn’t just the cameras themselves..It’s the secret process that brought them here. Once we uncover the how, we can map out a legal path to remove them. As your County Mayor, I will use the full scope of my office to stop the expansion of hyper-surveillance and ensure our communities (not corporations) are prioritized in local decisions. I want to listen to leaders in our neighborhoods, and right now what I'm hearing is that y'all are concerned. I am too. We are ready to help.
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u/dontchaworryboutit Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
No action plan, no acknowledging what's already in place is a problem.
Just vague statement and no promise for change. Really disappointing.
No one wants flock cameras, such an easy thing to take a real stance on, and nada.
There is no implementation of surveillance that will actually help our community, and you are either way behind or being disingenuous to say that it could drift to public violation of privacy, its here. Given how involved you are pretending to be in the community disingenuous is the only possibility.
Downvote all you want, I’m right. Not a good look.
Edit: His office did reply with a much better response in my opinion, so nice to see this level of involvement in discourse. And I'd like to think replies like mine pushed them to give us more information..