# Surveillance, Power & the God Complex: Why Flock Safety Should Concern You
# Business Reform — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W02nwo6Rsms

According to the American Psychological
Association, a Jehovah complex, more
commonly known as a God complex, is a
form of megalomania in which the
individual experiences delusions of
grandeur and identifies with qualities
associated with God. Among monotheistic
religions, three commonly accepted
qualities of God include omnipresence,
meaning being present everywhere
simultaneously,
omniscience, meaning all- knowing, and
infallibility, which means being
incapable of making mistakes. These
definitions will be important in a
moment as we examine statements made by
Garrett Langley, the CEO of Flock
Safety, in a recent interview with
Forbes. We will also examine statements
made by police sergeant Jaime Millerman,
who used data from a flock camera to
wrongly accuse an innocent woman of
theft. As always, links to all my
sources are in the description. In this
video, we will also examine the words
and actions of three other Flock
customers as we explore the striking
parallels between the people running
Flock, some of the people using Flock
cameras, and people who have a God
complex. I am Dr. John Padfield, an
engineer turned state representative
turned business professor, and this is
business reform, where we discuss issues
at the intersection of business,
technology, and society. While the term
god complex is defined in the American
Psychological Association's dictionary,
it is really just a slang term. It is
not a diagnosible condition in the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders, commonly called the
DSM5, published by the American
Psychiatric Association. However, a God
complex is closely related to a
diagnosible condition known as
narcissistic personality disorder, which
the DSM5 defines as a pervasive pattern
of grandiosity,
need for admiration, and a lack of
empathy. I only bring this up because
academic studies suggest that quote
upwards of 18% of CEOs might be
considered narcissist and quote
narcissism might be three times more
prevalent among CEOs than among the
general population. Other studies have
concluded that quote police officers
with traits of narcissistic personality
disorder are more likely to engage in
police misconduct. My doctorate is in
technology leadership and innovation,
not mental health. This video is not
intended as a mental health diagnosis.
It is simply a deep dive on some
statements made by the CEO of a
multi-billion dollar company who is
getting rich building the infrastructure
for the surveillance state. We will also
examine the words and actions of four
flock customers, including a police
sergeant, a police lieutenant, and two
police chiefs. I want to be fair in the
clips I'm about to show you and I am
telling you right now I am only taking
excerpts from Garrett Langley's answers
because he gives some very long answers
to very short questions. There is a link
in the description where you can watch
the entire interview on the Forbes
YouTube channel. Flock Safety used to
claim on their website their cameras
could eliminate crime in your community,
but Garrett Langley now has an even more
grandiose delusion. I mean vision. He
claims Flock can eliminate all crime in
America in an amazingly short amount of
time.
And the time frame on when you think
crime will
disappear,
no longer exist.
Let's give it 5 to seven years.
When I first heard Garrett Langley claim
Flock can eliminate crime in America in
the next 5 to seven years by putting up
surveillance cameras. I had two
immediate thoughts. My first thought was
if cameras prevented crime, these photos
of crimes would not exist and it would
be impossible for a prosecutor to
present photographic or video evidence
of a crime to a jury. In some cases,
cameras may reduce the likelihood of a
crime being committed, and they may make
it easier to catch a criminal after a
crime has been committed, but to say
they prevent or eliminate crime is
simply not true. My second thought was,
before turning our entire country into a
dystopian surveillance state, why don't
we start by eliminating crime in federal
prisons where inmates are already
accustomed to 24/7 surveillance?
According to a Department of Justice
Inspector General's report, in spite of
a complete lack of privacy, strip
searches, and countless security
cameras, hundreds of lives have been
lost inside of US prisons in recent
years, including 89 homicides. Worse
yet, female inmates in at least
twothirds of prison facilities in
America have been sexually abused,
sometimes for years, not by other
inmates, but by prison staff. you know,
the people in charge of watching all
those surveillance cameras to keep
people safe. Why don't we ask Flock to
eliminate crime inside just one federal
prison before we let them turn the
entire country into an open air prison?
And if you think the term open air
prison is an exaggeration, let's take a
look at what a couple of satisfied Flock
customers have said about flock cameras.
Mark Talbot, the police chief of
Norfolk, Virginia, called Flock cameras,
quote, "a nice curtain of technology
which make it quote, difficult to drive
anywhere of any distance without running
into a camera somewhere." But the most
honest quote came from another satisfied
flock customer near Denver, Colorado. A
Ring doorbell recorded police sergeant
Jaime Millleman talking with Chrysanna
Elzer on her front porch. Sergeant
Milleman said, quote, "You know, we have
cameras in that town. You can't get a
breath of fresh air in or out of that
place without us knowing." Let me repeat
that. The Ring doorbell recorded
Sergeant Milamman saying, "You know, we
have cameras in that town. You can't get
a breath of fresh air in or out of that
place without us knowing."
Protection. Is that how you see this?
This is protection. It's internment.
I am with Captain Steve Rogers. When
people can't get a breath of fresh air
without the police knowing, that isn't
protection. That is internment. And it's
not how free people live. It's how
inmates live. There are several
psychological characteristics commonly
associated with a god complex. One of
those characteristics is feeling
entitled to control others for their own
good, regardless of whether they consent
to that control. We will come back to
some additional statements Sergeant
Milleman made in just a moment. So far,
we have seen Garrett Langley has a
grandiose plan for eliminating crime in
America. And his network of 80,000 AI
powered cameras across the United States
give him the god-like qualities of
omniresence and omniscience. But that is
okay because he is uniquely qualified to
save society by eliminating crime.
Another common social behavior of people
with a god complex is they are often
hostile to opposition. This makes
complete sense because they are always
the good guy. Anyone who opposes them is
automatically the bad guy. Has Garrett
Langley ever demonstrated hostility
towards opponents of his surveillance
cameras? In my opinion, the short answer
is yes. In late 2024, a software
engineer by the name of Will Freeman
created a website called deflock.me.
It is a crowdsource project that has
mapped the location of over 46,000
automated license plate readers made by
Flock Safety and other license plate
reader companies. On their website, you
can see how many license plate readers
have been reported and documented across
America by ordinary people who naively
cling to the belief they have the right
to get a breath of fresh air without the
police knowing about it and recording
it.
Protection. Is that how you see this?
This is protection.
On DLock's about me page, they describe
exactly what they do. They educate
people about what automated license
plate readers are, how they work, and
why people should care. They document
where these surveillance cameras are
being installed around the country, and
they encourage communities to stand up
against the spread of these surveillance
systems. So, what was Flock's response
to dlock.me me educating people about
this technology and encouraging people
to quote push for greater accountability
and stronger privacy protection. Flock
proved they have as little respect for
the First Amendment as they do for the
Fourth Amendment and they had their
lawyer send a threatening cease and
desist letter to DLOC. Thankfully, the
lawyers at Electronic Frontiers
Foundation got involved on behalf of
DFlock, and they sent a response to
Flock's lawyers, refuting the claims
made in their cease and desist letter
and informing Flock they were not going
to cease and desist. What did Garrett
Langley have to say about Dlock in his
interview with Forbes? And then,
unfortunately, there's terroristic
organizations like Dlock, whose primary
motivation is chaos. They are closer to
Antifa than they are anything else.
There's terroristic organizations like
DFlock.
Not sure D Flock would agree with the
terroristic uh [laughter]
label.
Wow. Flock can take our tax dollars and
install 80,000 surveillance cameras
around the country. So, you can't get a
breath of fresh air without the police
knowing about it. And that makes them
the good guys. But when an educational
organization creates a map of where
those cameras are installed on public
rightaways, that makes them a
terroristic organization.
Flock and their customers are using
their god-like powers of omnipresence
and omniscience to fight crime. So maybe
they also have a superhero complex.
We compromised sometimes in ways that
made us not sleep so well. But we did it
so that people could be free. This isn't
freedom. This is fear. Once again, I
strongly agree with Captain Steve
Rogers. Flock and at least some of their
customers don't seem to share the love
of freedom demonstrated by Captain
America. But they do remind me of a
different superhero. More on that in
just a moment. Let's return to police
sergeant Jamie Millerman and what he
said to an innocent woman based on data
he obtained from a flock camera.
You know, we have cameras in that town.
You can't get a breath of fresh air in
or out of that place without us knowing.
Correct. On September 27th, a Coline
Valley police officer came to Croisser's
door and issued her a summon to appear
in court, accusing her of stealing a $25
package in the town of Bomar. The
officer said he had doorbell video of
the theft and had tracked her car in the
area using flock cameras.
It is locked in. There is zero doubt. I
wouldn't have come here unless I was
100% sure. 100%. The only problem with
this case, she wasn't there and she had
the evidence to prove it. Dash camera
video from her car, a log of her
location from Google Maps, and doorbell
video of her walking into her Taylor's
house when the package was stolen.
He just kept telling me that any
evidence I had wasn't worth it.
Because you have not been honest with
me, so I'm not going to extend you any
courtesy of showing you a video when I
don't need.
But I can show you videos.
No, you cannot. After a few weeks, Elser
was able to get in touch with the police
chief who wrote her in an email, quote,
"After reviewing evidence you have
provided, nicely done, by the way. We
have avoided the summons that was
issued." But Elser says she shouldn't
have needed to prove her innocence and
worries flock cameras can paint a
picture police will rely too heavily on.
How sure did he say he was?
There is zero doubt. I wouldn't have
come here unless I was 100% sure. 100%.
In my opinion, that statement qualifies
as delusional certainty, especially
given the fact that he was completely
wrong. I've met plenty of people like
him before who are frequently wrong, but
never in doubt. Remember, if you aren't
doing anything wrong, you may still have
to have your own video evidence to prove
your innocence.
Because you have not been honest with
me, so I'm not going to extend you any
courtesy of showing you a video when I
don't need.
But I can show you videos.
No, you cannot. Sergeant Milleman
accused the woman of lying to him about
her innocence and refused to even look
at the video evidence she said she had.
I believe he dismissed her as a liar due
to his own inflated sense of
superiority. So, after the victim
gathered enough evidence to prove her
innocence and the police chief dropped
the case against her, what did Sergeant
Millerman have to say?
People with a god complex often believe
they are infallible and simply can't
admit it when they make a mistake.
I don't make mistakes. I'm not just like
the rest of you. I'm stronger. I'm
smarter.
I'm better. I am better. In my opinion,
Sergeant Milleman also suffers from a
severe lack of empathy, as demonstrated
by his unwillingness to even show
Croissanna Eler the video he had of
someone who wasn't her stealing a
package off a doorstep. Because the case
was dropped, we will never know what
Sergeant Milleman would have told the
jury about how certain he was of
Chroanna Eler's guilt. A peer-reviewed
scientific study linked on the
Department of Justice website found a
jury's decision whether to believe a
witness is influenced more by the jury's
assessment of the confidence of the
witness rather than by the accuracy of
the witness. Based on how absolutely
certain and how absolutely wrong
Sergeant Milleman was in this case, I
can't help but wonder if he is
responsible for juries convicting other
innocent people in Colorado. But
Sergeant Milleman isn't the only flock
customer who has abused their superpower
to know who's getting a breath of fresh
air. A Kansas police chief was caught
using flock cameras 164 times to stalk
his ex-girlfriend and another 64 times
to stalk her new boyfriend. And a police
lieutenant was convicted of stalking
after getting caught using Flock cameras
to monitor everywhere his aranged wife
went. Flock claims they quote build
products and design systems with checks
and balances to ensure the ethical use
of their technology. But I believe
police chief Nygard and police
lieutenant heir have busted that myth. I
am not anti-law enforcement. I have done
consulting work for law enforcement. I
have friends who are former law
enforcement officers and other friends
who are currently in law enforcement
positions. My own daughter used to work
as a public safety officer. But this
type of surveillance technology is
outpacing legislation and creating huge
problems because at least some of
Flock's customers are abusing their
warrantless superpower to know who's
getting a breath of fresh air.
Ironically, in spite of Garrett
Langley's stated objective of
eliminating all crime in America, flock
safety has been in legal trouble in
multiple states for breaking the law
themselves. For instance, in Lake
County, Florida, county commissioners
voted unanimously to ban surveillance
equipment on county-owned property or
any county right ofway after it was
discovered Flock had installed nearly
100 cameras without permits throughout
the county. And the Texas Department of
Public Safety said Flock has been
operating illegally in Texas and ordered
the company to stop immediately. And in
North Carolina, a judge ordered Flock to
stop installing cameras after finding
the company had been operating
unlicensed for years. And the Illinois
Secretary of State said Flock violated
Illinois law by sharing license plate
data with US Customs and Border Patrol.
A 2024 article in Forbes states, quote,
"Local officials in multiple states told
Forbes that Flock had violated state
laws designed to guarantee driver
safety." While that is certainly on
brand, the fifth characteristic of a god
complex is disregard for rules and
limits because laws, ethics, and
policies are seen as constraints that
don't apply to them.
I am the Homelander
and I really can do whatever the I want.
How did we get here? The short answer is
that Palunteer co-founder Peter Teal
invested millions in Flock when it was
just a startup company in Garrett
Langley's garage. Today, Palunteer uses
automated license plate readers as an
input for their predictive policing
algorithms in Los Angeles. And even the
California State Auditor is calling for
law enforcement to do a better job of
protecting people's privacy related to
automated license plate readers. The
California state auditor found in Los
Angeles that all police staff, including
people who have no need to access
license plate reader databases, have
access to them anyway, and users are not
required to undergo training before
being given access to that data. What
can we do about it? I have some ideas I
need to refine before sharing publicly,
but I am going to be reaching out to
some of my fellow YouTube privacy
advocates to see if we can collaborate
on a couple of projects. Stay tuned. If
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These are some of my upcoming videos, so
be sure to subscribe and turn on
notifications if these subjects are of
interest to you. If you would like to
meet me in person, I will be speaking at
the Great Create Freedom Festival in
Aworth, Georgia on Saturday, November
8th. I really enjoyed meeting everyone
who came out to my Brushfires of Freedom
tour stop in Chicago this past Saturday
and I look forward to seeing everyone
there again in 2026. What are your ideas
for protecting our privacy against the
surveillance state? I can't wait to read
your comments.