It is better that ten guilty persons escape

The title to this article is Blackstone’s Ratio, quoted from his seminal work: “Commentaries on the Laws of England”.

John Adams, Founding Father and second President of the United States, expounded further on Blackstone’s Ratio:

”We find, in the rules laid down by the greatest English Judges, who have been the brightest of mankind; We are to look upon it as more beneficial, that many guilty persons should escape unpunished, than one innocent person should suffer. The reason is, because it’s of more importance to community, that innocence should be protected, than it is, that guilt should be punished; for guilt and crimes are so frequent in the world, that all of them cannot be punished; and many times they happen in such a manner, that it is not of much consequence to the public, whether they are punished or not. But when innocence itself, is brought to the bar and condemned, especially to die, the subject will exclaim, it is immaterial to me, whether I behave well or ill; for virtue itself, is no security. And if such a sentiment as this, should take place in the mind of the subject, there would be an end to all security what so ever.”

Flock cameras are much upon the public mind lately, and with good reason.

For those who have been living under a rock, “Flock cameras” are the Automatic License Plate Readers marketed and owned by the private corporation Flock Safety. They are powered by a solar cell and a rechargeable battery; and use Artificial Intelligence to capture vehicle data, license plates, and unique vehicle details like make, model, color, and bumper stickers — together with location and time — and store all of these details for (allegedly) 30 days.

Since Flock Safety is a privately-owned corporation, they claim there is no violation of the Constitution by this practice.

The issue comes that any law enforcement officer working for an agency that contracts with Flock Safety has unfettered access to any of the data collected by the cameras anywhere.

A deputy sheriff in Bugscuffle County, Texas is able to look for a license plate registered to Los Angeles, California; or New York City, New York; or Toadstomp, Montana — with no Constitutional protections for the owners of that plate whatsoever.

There are — as one might imagine — multiple issues here, not the least of which is that there are no active audits being run. Since a search warrant is not required, LEOs are getting caught running searches for license plates using “Test”, “Training”, and the always popular generic “Investigation” — if they even input a reason. Several officers didn’t either bother entering a reason for the search.

As anyone who has more than a twenty minute experience with humanity might expect, LEOs have turned the Flock Safety ALPRs system into their private “Stalkers R Us” — a minimum of 30 such incidents since 2021 — and the most troubling part of these incidents is that the majority of them were only discovered after a victim complaint initiated an investigation. Flock’s vaunted “audit process” … isn’t.

Since the data gathered by these cameras is deleted1 removed from agency access after 30 days, the evidence of stalking, harassment, turning Flock into an officer’s personal Tinder, and other examples of Official Misconduct/ Abuse of Office/ Unlawful Searches disappears after 30 days.

This is … not good. Especially given that public trust in government is at an all-time low after the Covid debacle.

Of course, the refrain from the Oppress Me Harder Daddy Authoritarian side of the house is the ever-popular “If you’ve got nothing to hide …”2

And that argument is, quite frankly, bushwa. It is not — and never has been — incumbent upon the average citizen to prove his innocence. Rather it is the duty of the State — under the restrictions of such archaic, antiquated, yet mandatory requirements as: “due process”, “probable cause”, “civil rights” and others — to prove guilt.

And — above all — to follow Blackstone’s Ratio.

The Surveillance State engendered by Flock Safety and the like is not Constitutional, nor is it psychologically healthy for the public; it should go away.

At a minimum — because we all know the Government will never give up any sort of power — misuse of the Panopticon must — MUST — be punishable not only as a felony for the LEO directly misusing it, but by removal of the head of the agency. A deputy sheriff uses the Flock system as a dating app, the deputy goes to prison, and the Sheriff is permanently removed from office. A Chief of Police uses the Flock system to find his Baby Mama, he goes to prison, and the Mayor is permanently removed from office. Every time; at a minimum.

Far, far better is for the public to rise up and demand removal of these mass surveillance devices, along with removing every public official who thought they were a good idea from their cushy offices.

Period.

If you’d like to see if your license plate has been searched on the Flock platform, go to HaveIBeenFlocked.com. Please be advised that those only cover license plate searches that have been released through agency audit logs. If you want to be sure, you’ll have to file a Freedom Of Information Act request with your local agencies.

If you’d like a map of Flock cameras in your area, go to DeFlock.org.

Ian