At this point I could probably run a weekly series just on New Jersey towns fighting back against something. Property taxes in Hillsborough. Paid parking in Diamond Beach. AI data centers in Andover Township and Manchester. And now, add Flock cameras to the list. All I’ve got is: what the flock?
Franklin Township, in Somerset County, became the latest battleground this week. According to NJ.com, residents packed a council meeting Tuesday to push back on the township’s use of automated license plate readers, the kind that snap a photo of a passing vehicle’s make, model, color, and plate. Township officials described the cameras as tightly regulated public-safety tools. A lot of the people in the room didn’t see it that way.
Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
What the township says the cameras are doing
Franklin Township operates 22 of the cameras, funded by a $339,000 state grant, according to Lloyd Fredericks, the township’s public safety director, who spoke alongside Flock Safety public affairs manager Carl Bach. Officials said the system has helped solve armed robberies and burglaries, and has helped identify vehicles connected to shootings and homicides.
What residents said back
One of the most contentious moments came when Michael Vintzileos of North Plainfield, who’s known around New Jersey council meetings for showing up dressed as a bong under the name “Bongholeo,” got into a back-and-forth with Mayor Phillip Kramer after being repeatedly asked to state his name and address. When Kramer told him he was being disruptive, Vintzileos shot back that Kramer was being disrespectful. He went on to argue that residents have already surrendered most of their privacy anyway, through E-ZPass, through their phones, and said plainly that he celebrates every time someone cuts a Flock camera down.
SEE ALSO: Ocean County man accused of intentionally cutting down a police flock camera
Other speakers were more measured but just as direct
Leslie Primo of Somerset said the cameras should have been better publicized before installation, and summed up her objection in one line: “We can police without stalking.” AJ Hoffman, a software engineer from Franklin Park, argued the system amounts to warrantless mass surveillance that threatens free speech, assembly, and association, and warned it could be used to disproportionately target marginalized communities. Sanchi Sharma, who said she works for a domestic violence agency, raised a different fear entirely, that the technology could be misused by someone in a position to do real harm. A Change.org petition calling on officials to terminate the township’s Flock Safety contracts has picked up more than 800 signatures.
This isn’t just a Franklin Township story
Automated plate readers aren’t new, Franklin Township has used some form of the technology since 2010. What’s changed is the scale. According to the state’s most recent annual audit, 523 of New Jersey’s roughly 530 law enforcement agencies now use it. This is the first time I’ve written about the Flock fight myself, but the station has been on it. My colleague Jen Ursillo reported on the arrest of a Brick Township man charged with cutting down a Flock camera near an Exxon station, a case that’s drawn its own share of online supporters cheering him on. Franklin Township is just the newest town to have this argument out loud, in public, at a podium.
Add it to the list. Taxes, parking, data centers, and now cameras. New Jersey isn’t running out of things to fight about, and honestly, at this rate, neither am I.
Share of your tax bill going to schools vs. municipality
How your property tax bill is split up depends on where you live. This is the data from the state for the year 2025.
Gallery Credit: New Jersey 101.5
