Image Credit: Knox County Commission.
Article by David Seal, Tennessee Conservative News –
Citizens concerned with unwarranted surveillance attended the Knox County Workshop on Flock cameras that was conducted at the Knoxville City County Building on August 23, 2026.
The following is analysis and reaction provided by some of the citizens that attended the meeting.
“This past Monday, Knox County Commission met with representatives from both Knox County Sheriff’s Office and Flock Safety to discuss issues relating to the Flock camera system. In short, the meeting was a disaster for KCSO; issues stemming from transparency, lack of oversight and questionable financial expenditures came clawing to surface as commission sought a better understanding of what, exactly, the county was getting us into. The county’s law director, David Buuck, even made the comment that the service contract Flock sent us was “one of the screwiest contracts” he had ever seen.
Outside of questionable financial and implementation factors, there are many questions about the ethical and legal ramifications that no one seems to be able to answer as of yet. The Supreme Court just recently ruled on so-called “geofencing” measures utilized by law enforcement to track cell phone usage at or near the scene of criminal activity, calling it a Fourth Amendment violation as it constitutes an unreasonable search and seizure of private citizen data. In the opinion of Volunteer Patriots, these ALPR cameras will eventually be given a similar ruling, especially when other ALPR companies have started utilizing technology that scans and analyzes wireless frequencies transmitting from electronic sources in passing vehicles.” – said Christian Breeden, Co-founder, President, Volunteer Patriots (a voter education non-profit)
Volunteer Patriots issued the following statement following the meeting.
– Commissioner Rhonda Cox Lee asked why details of the contract were seemingly purposefully hidden from not just the public, but government officials, as well, and why Lee was never given notice about basically anything related to the program
– Questions about purchases and the finances associated with them came up from Commissioner Larsen Jay and it was revealed that some purchases made, over several years, were for $24,990; this is just $10 shy of an automatic review and audit measure meant to protect taxpayer funds from inappropriate and fraudulent spending
– Adam Thompson, Knox County Commissioner for District 8 asked about how the $1.5M grant Knox County received from the State. According to KCSO representatives, $800K was spent on getting the Flock program up and running, between $500K and $600K was spent on technological upgrades to the detention facility, and the remainder was put towards the Real-Time Crime Center, where the Flock cameras and drones will be operated from
– Shane Jackson, County Commissioner for District 4 asked questions relating to the data collected by Flock. When asked whether the data was open source or closed system, KCSO representatives said that the data was part of a closed system. However, upon further questioning, it was revealed that other agencies had already been given access to the data, meaning it WASN’T closed at all
– Damon Rawls Knox County Commissioner District 1 voiced his frustrations not just at the lack of transparency, especially with how and why locations were picked for the almost 150 Flock units currently in place in the county and bemoaned the fact that more money wasn’t put towards education initiatives to cut down on inmate recidivism; to directly quote him, “Flock off!”
– Kim Frazier asked whether or not Knox County currently had a service contract with Flock. Their representatives said yes, but Frazier had a letter from the mayor’s office cancelling the contract. Flock said they had not received the letter and the mayor’s office stated that as of now, Knox County had no contract with Flock because they had sent a letter via mail cancelling it
– David Buuck for Knox County Law Director stated that the contract between the county and Flock was, quote, “one of the screwiest [he] had ever seen.” There was general confusion as to the overall terms of the contract and there was even a startling revelation that anytime a purchase is made from Flock, per the contract, it RENEWS the service agreement with the company automatically
– Commissioner Andy Fox asked general questions about the Flock system, it’s capabilities, what they were capable of doing and the difference between these cameras and systems from other companies
– Commissioner Courtney R. Durrett asked questions about data storage of information Flock systems obtain, timelines for the length of storage and what happens to the data after it has either been used or downloaded
– Commissioner Terry Hill made statements more towards the rest of commission than anything else, and wondered if there were places or circumstances where these cameras could be utilized so that the amount of spending already done wouldn’t be in vain
– Another shocking admission was the fact that KCSO currently DOES NOT have a legal team working with them. This is apparently going to change at the beginning of September, but in our opinion this is something that should NEVER be allowed to happen Overall, several commissioners vowed to vote against further implementation of the Flock system, citing Constitutional and transparency concerns, and Commissioner Jay said that he would be seeking to add an amendment to the ordinance to have Flock immediately dismantle and remove ALL of their equipment in the county. If this passes, it will be a major victory for the citizens of Knox County!
For background on the Knox County meeting, a link is provided here.
Concerned citizen Ms. Kyle Nahrebne offered the following statement for this article.
“I offer the following statements. To be clear, I am not speaking on behalf of the Knox County Republican Party, but as a citizen of the county where FLOCK cameras were recently installed in our rural community.
It is clear the deployment of FLOCK cameras across Knox County in recent months have raised citizen’s concerns—particularly regarding Fourth Amendment implications.
During discussions between Commissioners and KCSO personnel at the recent special meeting there appeared to have been a lack of transparency surrounding the procurement process for FLOCK cameras within KCSO. Of concern is that the 2020 contract (service agreement) with FLOCK was designed to auto renew and in some instances, payment was made below the threshold that could evade review and audit by county government and the vendor was not listed on the service agreement. What was the reason? No real reason was offered.
Most surprising to many of the Commissioners was the revelation that the county no was no longer under contract with the company as Mayor Jacobs had sent a letter to FLOCK management canceling the contract on August 12th. So, why are the cameras still operational? The FLOCK representative stated he was not aware of the letter but that question still remains why are they still operational?
Many residents and I will be closely watching the Commission vote August 31st hoping that use of FLOCK cameras will be permanently banned and those that exist throughout the county are dismantled.” – said Ms. Kyle Nahrebne, Vice Chair, Knox County Republican Party, President, Knox County Republican Women
According to WVLT TV News in Knoxville, County Mayor Glenn Jacobs sent the Flock Group Inc. a letter questioning the validity of the county’s contract with the ALPR provider. Jacobs letter references a purchasing threshold of $100,000.00 which would trigger the need for the county commission to approve the aggregate purchase amount of $274,720.00 dating back to the original purchase made in 2020.
A copy of Jacobs’ letter, dated August 12, 2026, is provided below.
About the Author: David Seal is a retired Jefferson County educator, recognized artist, local businessman, 917 Society Volunteer, and past Chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Party. He has also served Jefferson County as a County Commissioner and is a citizen lobbyist for the people on issues such as eminent domain, property rights, education, and broadband accessibility on the state level. David is also a 2024 winner of The Tennessee Conservative Flame Award & has received an accolade from the Institute For Justice for successfully lobbing the TN legislature to protect property rights. David can be reached at david@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
