Nearly six in ten Knox County voters oppose the Knox County Sheriff's Office's use of Flock Safety surveillance cameras, according to a new poll of 350 likely voters, and the opposition doesn't split along party lines the way most hot-button issues do. Fifty-eight percent of respondents said they're against the automated license plate readers, with Democrats, Republicans and independents all landing in opposition, though the survey did not specify the exact percentage breakdown for each party.
The poll, conducted by Spry Strategies, found that survey respondents were broadly aware of the controversy surrounding Flock cameras both nationally and in Knox County, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel. Ryan Burrell said social media quickly spread information about the cameras, helping fuel the widespread familiarity researchers found among voters. The Knox County Sheriff's Office has contracted with Flock Safety and installed some of the company's cameras already, but outgoing Sheriff Tom Spangler paused the broader rollout amid the backlash.
Respondents also rejected AI-enabled license plate readers and surveillance cameras more broadly, the poll found, and many said they want basic information about how the cameras work along with secure safeguards against data abuse. The poll's executive summary recommended that officials pursue reform and transparency rather than fight an up-or-down battle over whether the cameras should exist at all. That same summary described support for Flock cameras as a political liability across the electorate, noting that a share of respondents said they'd be more likely to back candidates who support the cameras while others said they'd be less likely to vote for those same candidates.
A Sheriff's Office Silent on Privacy Details
The Knox County Sheriff's Office has not released a data privacy policy for its Flock system, and unanswered questions remain about who can access the footage, how long it's stored and how residents could request to view their own data. Those gaps come as Knox County Commissioners prepare to hold a public meeting on August 24 with representatives from Flock and the sheriff's office, after Flock representatives had already met one-on-one with individual commissioners. Commissioner Gina Oster confirmed that Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley plans to personally attend, according to WBIR.
The meeting follows a July 27 resolution, sponsored by Commissioner Adam Thompson, in which the Knox County Commission unanimously called for a comprehensive review of the sheriff's office license plate reader program and its Advanced Research and Communications Center. That vote froze a planned expansion of nearly 300 cameras that would have been funded by a $1.6 million state grant. Days earlier, on July 21, Mayor Glenn Jacobs and Sheriff Spangler had already agreed not to operate the county's Advanced Research and Communications Center or any new Flock cameras until after both leave office on September 1. Knox County Commissioners could ultimately vote on whether to ban Flock cameras and license plate readers outright at an August 31 meeting.
Statewide Retention Limits Already on the Books
Any camera policy Knox County adopts will operate within limits already set by state law. Under Tennessee Code § 55-10-302, government agencies statewide are prohibited from storing automated license plate reader data for more than 90 days unless the records are tied to an active criminal investigation, a ceiling Hoodline has previously detailed. Flock Safety itself has moved further than that baseline, announcing on August 13 that it would introduce new privacy and data-protection features, including a system-wide shift that reduces default retention from 30 days down to seven, alongside AI-powered auditing tools meant to flag potential misuse by law enforcement users of the search system.
Regional Backlash Turns Volatile
The Knox County debate is unfolding against a backdrop of sharper regional conflict over the technology. In Sullivan County, Sheriff Jeff Cassidy suspended use of the county's 10 Flock license plate readers along state highways, saying he and others had endured threats over the department's camera use, and he asked county commissioners to place a camera referendum on an upcoming ballot. That came days after Sullivan County Commissioner Joe Carr publicly called for the execution of Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley during an August 13 commission work session, a remark that drew intense regional controversy.
Farther south in Blount County, independent U.S. House candidate Adam Lee Heimerman was arrested and charged with four counts of felony vandalism after admitting to shooting and disabling four Flock camera systems across Blount County and Maryville, a case Hoodline has covered in detail. Heimerman is challenging incumbent Rep. Tim Burchett, who has himself moved against the technology at the federal level, introducing H.R. 9800, the Protection Against Mass Surveillance Act, which would bar federal agencies from purchasing or accessing license plate readers and prohibit local police from using federal grant money for Flock cameras.
State Leaders and Candidates Split on Limits
Tennessee's statewide political figures are staking out varied positions as the debate spreads. U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn, who faces Jerri Green and independent candidates in the Tennessee gubernatorial race, has said there's a meaningful distinction between license plate readers and round-the-clock surveillance, and she has voiced support for using license plate readers, Flock cameras and other automated surveillance tools while saying she'll advocate for Tennesseans' privacy alongside public safety needs. Democratic candidate Lauren Pinkston has called for clear, transparent policies limiting how long data is retained and with whom it's shared, saying Flock cameras should be limited in scope and not used to track people's daily movements. Green has not widely shared her own position on surveillance.
The pattern extends beyond individual candidates to entire local governments. Nearby Rocky Top voted to terminate its Flock camera contract, citing cost concerns and a lack of investigative results, while Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank has requested public hearings over mass surveillance fears, according to Hoodline's earlier coverage of Anderson County. With Knox County's own commission meeting set for August 24 and a possible ban vote scheduled for August 31, the coming weeks will show whether Flock's new privacy features and Langley's planned in-person appearance can satisfy the bipartisan skepticism the poll uncovered, or whether Knox County joins the growing list of East Tennessee communities pulling back from the cameras altogether.
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