To rule out a law enforcement technique because there are errors is to eliminate law enforcement. No system involving technology or humans is going to be error free, but Flock cameras are almost certainly more reliable than eye witness testimony. The problem is that any power that can be abused will be abused, so you have to decide what power you can live with being abused. We historically have decided that the power for warrantless searches is too much power that will be abused. We've historically treated anything in public as not having an expectation of privacy. We may have to think about that in an era of mass data, mass surveilance, and AI.
I'm still undecided on flock cameras other than I don't want police having unfettered access to them. The real problem is that we don't have any accountability at the federal level. We're not good at it at the state level, but you do see cops being fired for abusing surveillance data and you have the federal option for lawsuits. The fact that nobody from the Obama or Biden administration suffered any consequences for abusing FISA, spying on journalists, spying on congressmen, etc., means we really, really shouldn't want the feds to have access to these, and the only way to prevent that may be to stop them from being up to begin with.
But, they do (or at least can) make a lot of people in poor and crime ridden areas safer. We're underpoliced in our most violent areas compared to other developed countries as far as actual beat walking policemen, and this technology could help offset that some. The people in those communities are going to bear the brunt of any overly aggressive surveillance but also are much more likely to be beneficiaries of it in the form of less victimization. I think I'd probably like to see them in the worst ares of places like Baltimore or Chicago and see what impact they have on crime rates. I'd also like to see them in some fringe areas to see if they help areas stall or reverse a decline. Would flock cameras help keep the tradeoffs of northeast jackson acceptable for the remaining holdouts? Or maybe help areas like around JA bounce back? I assume that data on the impact in areas like that is actually out there based if you can get data on on flock camera rollouts and compare it to crime data in those areas.
