A county commissioner is going viral after he told a Flock Safety representative at a public meeting that the company’s CEO should be hanged for treason, marking a fever-pitch surrounding personal privacy and open public hostility over the nationwide rollout of the controversial surveillance tools.
“I believe that Flock right now is one of the most hated companies in America. They are one of the most corrupt companies in America,” Kingsport Commissioner Joe Carr told a Flock Safety representative at an Aug. 13 work session.
“Quite frankly, sir, I don’t think we can make America great again without hanging your CEO publicly for treason,” Carr continued. “Your company is an enemy of the American people.”
His comments were quickly interrupted by the leader of the commission meeting, who interjected, saying, “Mr. Carr, we are not going to threaten violence to anybody.”
Speaking with Fox News Digital, Carr looked to clarify his now-viral remarks.
“I didn’t call for lynchings, I called for due process,” Carr said. “You want to try the guy first, and I don’t support political random killings. I definitely don’t. But at the same time, you know, the American people are angry. I felt, and I think a lot of them felt, that no elected official was really going hard enough on this. And so I wanted to be the guy to do that.”
Carr’s criticism comes as Flock’s rollout of automated license plate readers draws national scrutiny over government surveillance, data security and personal privacy. Roughly 100 municipalities have canceled or deactivated their contracts with the security company.
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“I think probably the biggest story though isn’t really my comments, but people’s reaction to them,” Carr said. “You can go on any of the posts about it and like 99 percent of the replies are agreeing with me. And I think that’s where the American people are at right now.”
“People have a right to go about their business without being spied on,” he added. “Whether or not they’re going to work or going to church, picking their kids up from school, going to football practice or whatever, they have a right to do all these things without being spied on and without having the government logging their every move.”
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Within days of Carrs comments in the work session, Sullivan County Sheriff Jeff Cassidy suspended the use of all 10 of Flocks ALPRs in the county due to “legitimate concerns” surrounding “privacy, oversight, and government surveillance,” according to a press release.
Cassidy went on to ask the Sullivan County Commission t
