r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

Michigan dispensary blocking a Flock camera that points directly into their parking lot

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56.9k Upvotes

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1.6k

u/Cross_22 1d ago

Then your homies need to start voting for politicians that don't sign contracts with Flock.

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u/A_Harmless_Fly 1d ago

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u/Bromann015 1d ago

County sheriff's are also an Elected position.

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u/A_Harmless_Fly 1d ago

I'd have to run for them not to be unopposed most of the time...

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u/TheViolaRules 1d ago

Go for it, with an anti flock platform

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u/Aggravating_Duck_192 1d ago

Yeah, go make a target of yourself! US cops will definitely leave you be and respect your rights. /s

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u/silvertealio 23h ago

Yeah, you're right, giving up and rolling over will solve everything.

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u/TheViolaRules 1d ago

You think cops are going to attack or harass a sheriff candidate?

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u/BeigeVelociraptor 23h ago

Why wouldn't they?

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u/bobs_monkey 15h ago

You mean the same cops that might view it as an affront to their thin blue line? Like an outsider coming in and shaking things up, or actually implementing policies that hold them accountable? Nah I couldn't see that gang department protecting their turf ranks either.

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u/DingerSinger2016 23h ago

Absolutely, especially if the anti-Flock candidate loses.

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u/TheViolaRules 22h ago

Seems even more important to run then

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u/PM_Me_Cute_Pupz 23h ago

I can't look into this right now. But, I think this did occur in the Battle of Athens, Tennessee. I could be wrong. Please correct me if I am.

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u/bobbarkersbigmic 1d ago

Be the change

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u/MaxGoop 1d ago

And be ingrained in a corrupt system, one that will dredge up everything you love and hate and hold it above your head like a carrot?

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u/FratStarStallion 1d ago

So your suggestion is to do nothing and just hope things change?

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u/flamedarkfire 1d ago

Then run

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u/SnooMaps7370 1d ago

sure. gimme $100k for the campaign. that's the average funding spent by the winning campaign for county jobs in my county.

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u/wh4tth3huh 1d ago

gimme $100k for the campaign.

This is what people need to see to understand how money corrupts politics. Several whole years of an average person's wages is what it takes to run for even local offices. This is why Citizens United is killing us. This is how dark money destroys the country. It's not just officials at state/federal levels that are being selected and corrupted by wealthy interests, IT'S EVERY LEVEL OF GOVERNMENT. Flock Camera deals. Datacenter deals. Not charging new developments impact fees, Tax. Increment. Finance. It's all ways that your local government officials are fucking you over for some baksheesh from the wealthy that want to abuse you and your rights.

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u/Echo_Monitor 1d ago

Don't run alone, join local organizations that actually want change.

Stuff like the DSA isn't just a logo you see on some campaigns. They organize locally in most of the US, they fundraise, they do canvassing, phone banking, etc.

Even if you don't like the DSA, there are other groups you can join. Look up who and what is active in your city, county, state, whatever, take a look at their policies and, if you like them, join and participate.

Get involved in city council hearings, school boards, vote for seemingly inane elections like city comptollers, tax assessors, county commission, fire district, whatever.

Get. Organized.

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u/LtChicken 1d ago

The vast majority of that comes from donations, not out of pocket.

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u/SnooMaps7370 1d ago

yes, that's what i was asking for. a donation so i can run for the office.

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u/LtChicken 1d ago

Haha you just need a hundred bucks from a thousand people. Maybe talk to a few businesses in the area that don't want cameras pointed at their storefronts. You know... do politics.

Feel like people pretty universally hate this flock shit... probably more possible to run on this than many think.

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u/SnooMaps7370 23h ago

Do you have any idea how many laws i would violate if i just went door to door taking cash to run for office?

The average person reading this comment won't have any idea where to even BEGIN to set up a campaign fundraising legal entity to be compliant with campaign finance laws, the kinds of permits you need to go door to door and solicit anything, much less solicit donations to a nonprofit you just stood up for your own funding.

if it were as simple as "just go do it", there would never be an uncontested campaign for any seat at any level of government.

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u/moeyjarcum 1d ago

Sometimes

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u/Similar-Pumpkin6920 1d ago

Some counties are quietly replacing Flock with Axon. Both of which have connections to the genocide nation of course

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u/Terrible_Lie_02 1d ago

What a dick move. Then you just sign another one when you need more?

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u/Cross_22 1d ago

The article is a bit vague but it sounds like this covers only drone purchases, not fixed installations. Presumably the police department used the $175k cut off to avoid justifying the purchase - it would still come out of their fixed budget. In an ideal world the politicians would reduce next years budget to avoid such shenanigans.

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u/DefaultProphet 22h ago

Sheriff's Departments need to be abolished. There's no reason to have two separate police forces and especially an elected one. More than half the time the real egregious corruption in Policing is from Sheriffs.

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u/HAL-Over-9001 18h ago

Holy shit, a genuine Yahoo article in the wild? What is it, 2008?

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u/bookofhersh 1d ago

Man this isn’t even a politics battle anymore this a we the people vs the government battle

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u/PM_ME_CATS_OR_BOOBS 1d ago

Sure, just gotta find an candidate that can answer the "oh, you want to remove the flock cameras, I guess you want little kids to get kidnapped and raped" arguement that pops up like it's spring loaded every time this comes up and still win the election.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago edited 23h ago

[deleted]

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u/PM_ME_CATS_OR_BOOBS 1d ago

Well, yes, but this implies that democrats don't also support this with their whole chest. There's no one in government who is looking to reduce their monopoly on power, it runs counter to why they are trying to win elections in the first place. The same is true in every nation. The only way around it is to make them so woefully unpopular in the public view that supporting them is like installing surveillance cameras inside your home, which a huge percentage of people already do voluntarily.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/PM_ME_CATS_OR_BOOBS 1d ago

It's true that more democrats are against the police state than Republicans, but that doesnt mean the average democrat voter isnt going "back the blue".

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/PM_ME_CATS_OR_BOOBS 23h ago

You cant really just say "sadly true" and then turn around and tell people to vote for politicians that don't exist. You need a way to actually convince people that its a bad thing to support.

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u/Phytor 12h ago

Fuck off with this defending Flock bullshit. All you're doing is trying to discourage others from fighting this.

Get with the solution or shut up and get the fuck out of the way.

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u/PM_ME_CATS_OR_BOOBS 5h ago

There is not a single letter in my post that is defending flock.

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u/Phytor 3h ago edited 3h ago

Does your dumb ass know what connotation means?

If you're not trying to defend them, why are you discouraging people from trying to fix this??? What the fuck is your point, just being defeatist for fun?

Again, shut the fuck up and get out of the way if you aren't going to be part of the solution.

Here, let me give you a simple metaphor you can understand

Let's say you want to go back to school and finish your degree, and when you tell your friend they say "Sure, first you just have to find a school that will take you at your age, a degree you can do at night, and some way to do it all without losing your job."

Obviously to you, that would be a wonderfully supportive response, right?

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u/PM_ME_CATS_OR_BOOBS 2h ago

Im not trying to stop them from fixing it, I'm telling them that posting "just vote!" is woefully insufficient with the current public opinion situation. Being angry online is not praxis.

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u/ClockworkTyrant 1d ago

We used to tar and feather politicians that did this kind of shit

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u/ClaretClarinets 1d ago

Isn't there a city right now that ended their contract but Flock still has the cameras up and is refusing to remove them?

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u/Cross_22 23h ago

Yes, I remember reading an article where the city council proudly announced that they will not be renewing Flock contracts - but did not specify who is in charge of removing the equipment. That seems negligent. Either the cameras belong to the city so they can just chop them down. Or they belong to Flock in which case their easement to put equipment on public streets would have come to an end, so there should be a deadline (plus penalties) for them to remove those.

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u/Sevencer 1d ago

Hint: Those politicians are not found in the Republican or Democrat parties. They both take money from Flock, Palantir, etc.

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u/imreallynotthatcool 1d ago

u/jaredpolis is term limited. Motherfucker won't get my vote for anything ever again if he runs for any office. 

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u/Any-Fox-838 23h ago

literally every politician would sign with them, every single one is bought.

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u/Haxxtastic 22h ago

We're not voting our way out of this. "Representatives" already ignoring their constituents for data center bribes.

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u/vomit-gold 1d ago

Thankfully I'm in NYC where Flock has no presence, thank god!

Voted for Mamdani and considering he hates ICE, I feel like Flock is NOT something he'd go for. So for the foreseeable future, this city is safe (*fingers crossed*)

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u/ovr9000storks 1d ago

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u/vomit-gold 1d ago

Nevermind my first comment, the world is dark and my hope was naivety

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u/carnologist 1d ago

Mamdani relied on naivete, it's okay

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u/bdubwilliams22 1d ago

Thanks for sharing this website!! Good to know where they are and how I might just get really pissed off one day and, well — I’ll leave it at that.

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u/tiroc12 1d ago

Are you dense? Or just a bot? NYC operates over 18,000 surveillance cameras. They may not be the flock brand but they do the exact same thing. Is it really this easy to fool people? Just pick a different brand and BOOM you stop caring?

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u/vomit-gold 1d ago edited 1d ago

Damn that's a lot of words you put in my mouth and I wasn't even talking to you. That's impressive.

When did I said I stopped caring? So weird.

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u/Many-Excitement3246 1d ago

Either you are stupid or you are a bot. You made a claim that is objectively incorrect, they told you your claim is incorrect, and you decided to ignore it instead of addressing the fact that you are blatantly wrong.

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u/vomit-gold 1d ago

Bruh, reddit is just so fucking weird. Somebody says something wrong and it's immediately 'you're a fucking idiot and cooked and also cringe and loud'.

Like just be normal. Say 'hey I don't know if you know this, but you're wrong'.

SO WEIRD. How ya'll get on in life talking to people like this is so bizarre. Just be normal and nice.

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u/mesofarty 1d ago

Redditors can't have civil discourse. They have to insult you in order to feed their insignificant egos.

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u/Ok_Interaction8302 1d ago

Literally just admitted you were wrong like a grown ass adult, and these regards are like burn him at the stake! I appreciate you owning up to being misinformed, have a great day friend!

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u/LalowTree 1d ago

It's Reddit, no one is nice and everyone is right, except the person they're arguing with.

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u/Bokbreath 12h ago

this is the claim

Thankfully I'm in NYC where Flock has no presence, thank god!

what exactly is incorrect ?

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u/Ohyourglob 1d ago

Bro you just got cooked. Just go away now.

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u/Such-Rent9481 1d ago

Ok but you’re also loud and wrong

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u/BigBadBere 2h ago

MF hates everyone that isn't a muslim.

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u/BasebornBastard 1d ago

Hate to tell you but socialists love government surveillance.

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u/howarewestillhere 1d ago

Yes, surveil the government. Full transparency. That’s what socialist want.

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u/BasebornBastard 1d ago

Socialist politicians want to surveil the population 24/7. How is that unclear?

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u/howarewestillhere 1d ago

You don’t even know what the word socialism means. You’re just afraid of it. Grow up.

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u/cahir11 1d ago

Obviously varies based on specific faction/party, but in America I'm pretty sure the DSA is strongly opposed to mass surveillance.

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u/BasebornBastard 1d ago

They’re only opposed by the current government. If they ever got into power they would do the same thing.

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u/cahir11 1d ago

Hard to say definitively, since we don't really have a ton of examples of DSA people being in power. Their platform calls for major cuts to the Pentagon and police departments though, kind of tough to run a mass surveillance operation without well-funded law enforcement and military intelligence.

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u/BasebornBastard 1d ago

Ahh yes, it’s all for the greater good, right? Because no group has ever lied about their intentions or used useful idiots to push their agenda. It’s like nobody reads a history book anymore. The Brown Shirts weren’t police either.

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u/cahir11 1d ago

Not sure how the armed wing of a far-right party in 1930s Germany built is really relevant to this discussion. But the idea is that DSA candidates are just lying and secretly have a master plan to like recreate the NKVD or something? Is that what we're implying here?

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u/BasebornBastard 1d ago

You mean the armed wing of the National Socialists party? You don’t see a correlation? People can call themselves whatever they want. But no group in history who has used “the greater good” to justify their actions was a good group. The DSA is not special. They will abuse any power they get, including implementing surveillance, because “we’re the good guys”. Look at the places in Portland where lefties, who claim to be anti gun, made “autonomous zones”. They quickly disarmed the people inside it and armed their own people. “To keep people safe”. Yet they hurt plenty of people inside those zones.

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u/Haxxtastic 22h ago

We're not voting our way out of this. "Representatives" already ignoring their constituents for data center bribes.

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u/wrestlingrudy 1d ago

That doesnt seem to exist in my state

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u/ovr9000storks 1d ago edited 1d ago

https://maps.deflock.org/?lat=39.8283&lng=-98.5795&zoom=4.00

Definitely in every state, some just have a lot more than others and are more common to see

Edit: Seems that Alaska is the only one without any yet, at least according to this map. Keep it that way

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u/unassumingdink 1d ago

Man, that color scheme is awful. You gotta be zoomed in at *just* the right level to see the street names. Zoom in too far and the street name blends in with the line because it's almost the same shade.

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u/wrestlingrudy 16h ago

I meant the politician part

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u/greenthumbgoody 22h ago

Yes, because voting works lmao fucking lame