Garrison's Flock Camera

Well, looky here.

It appears to be “Flockmaster” Garrison’s latest unwanted camera. It is almost hidden just past the Blue Mountain Storage buildings on the south side of Highway 213 in Mars Hill.

Garrison has never seemed particularly interested in protecting the rights of the people of Madison County—well, perhaps with the exception of his Brothers and Sisters, whom he has faithfully served throughout his career.

At a previous commissioners’ meeting, six individual citizens attempted to exercise their legal right to make public comment regarding the use of Flock cameras in Madison County. Garrison denied them that right by pretending they were members of an organized group. They were not. They were six individual citizens attempting to exercise their individual rights.

That distinction matters. A government official does not get to manufacture an “organized group” simply by declaring that unrelated citizens are one.

And now Garrison and his fellow commissioners have decided that Madison County citizens need to surrender a little more of their privacy to government surveillance cameras.

Meanwhile, communities across the country are beginning to question Flock’s growing surveillance network. Some have discontinued their contracts, removed cameras, or taken steps to restrict their use. But not Garrison. He is dedicated to violating people's right to privacy.

As of September 1, 2026, The Washington Post reports that it has identified at least 69 police officials accused, charged, or convicted of misusing Flock or other license-plate-reader systems for unauthorized purposes. In at least 15 cases, the potential misuse was first discovered by someone outside the police department.

There are some particularly ugly examples:

• Lufkin, Texas: Officer Zachary Klein was indicted on 100 felony counts after allegedly conducting about 45,318 Flock searches, including repeatedly searching particular plates thousands of times. The department subsequently suspended its Flock system.

• Albany, Georgia: Five officers were fired and arrested for alleged misuse of Flock cameras.

• Savannah, Georgia: An audit of approximately 39,000 searches found 34 unjustified searches; six employees were terminated and four were arrested.

• Brevard County, Florida: A former deputy resigned after allegedly using Flock to look up his ex-girlfriend's vehicle.

• Charlotte, North Carolina: Officer Seth Elliott was arrested after allegedly accessing Flock to look up an undercover investigator's vehicle at the request of a drug suspect.

• Mauldin, South Carolina: An officer was fired after allegedly using Flock to track a former romantic partner 166 times.

• Indianapolis: The Post identified an officer who searched vehicles associated with his wife and two acquaintances 3,759 times over 10 months. The department then suspended him and began administrative and criminal investigations.

• Who is auditing every Flock search made by Madison County law enforcement, and how often are those audits actually conducted? More important, do you really trust Harwood and his Chief hitman?

Silence the citizens. Watch the citizens. And apparently expect the citizens to be grateful for it.

It is beginning to look less like representative government and more like government that has forgotten who it is supposed to represent.

Perhaps it is time for some very sweeping changes in who gets elected, who gets appointed, and who gets trusted with the management of Madison County.

The people are not the enemy. And elected officials should never forget it.