Flock technician calls police on reporter filming ALPR install in Milton

Rideshare Coach posted a YouTube video built from police bodycam of a Flock Safety technician who called 911 on a reporter filming a license-plate reader install in Milton, Georgia. The clip, titled "Flock Camera Installer Calls Police On Reporter,"

The channel's own description says the footage came through a Freedom of Information Act request and shows national investigative reporter Brendan Keefe documenting a public-sidewalk installation when the technician packed up, drove off and dialed police. Three cruisers responded, the description states. Milton Police Department handled the stop.

InvestigateTV and Atlanta News First first laid out the underlying episode in a Sept. 8 report by Emily Featherston and Brendan Keefe. According to that account, the incident happened Aug. 19 on a suburban street outside Atlanta, not far from Keefe's home. A family member had spotted work on a Flock camera. Keefe drove over, parked at a distance on the public street, put on a yellow safety vest and a hat bearing his station's logo, set a press placard on the dashboard and started recording. The installer saw him, packed the equipment and left. Keefe followed several cars behind, hoping to catch the next stop.

The technician called 911. Forsyth County answered first, then transferred the call. "I work with Flock Safety. And I called originally because I’m getting followed," the installer told the dispatcher in recordings InvestigateTV obtained. "I was getting harassed, pretty much. Taking videos and pictures. And now, the same vehicle that pulled over where I was working at has been following me." He described Keefe's car and clothing, down to the hat and vest. A Milton officer pulled Keefe over. Two more units arrived.

"I’m a member of the press, and I was following at a distance because I’m documenting them putting up Flock cameras. I’m an investigative reporter," Keefe said on dashboard and bodycam video the station released. While he waited on the shoulder, the officer reached a supervisor. "When I came up to them, he was behind him but not like right on his bumper," the officer reported. "He said that, yeah, he was following him to where he was trying to catch this person on video setting up the Flock cameras, but it was not to where you know so close as to break any laws or give the appearance he was stalking him, or anything like that. Yeah, he was following him, but he was not chasing him."