Hey, it’s me, Buddy Huggins.
I was born in the Mississippi Delta, and a lot of folks still know me as the Buddha from Mississippi. These days I live in Ozark, Missouri. I ride my bike, I speak life over my cells, and I keep showing up at the Ozark Board of Aldermen meetings because some things are worth saying out loud in person.
One of those things is the Flock Safety cameras the city has been installing.
These are automated license-plate readers. They snap a picture of every vehicle that drives past, log the plate, the make, model, color, exact time, and location, then send it all to a private company’s cloud. No warrant required. No suspicion of a crime required. Just driving down the road is enough.
I first started paying attention when I learned the city was quietly adding more of them—along highways, near parks, and around residential areas. I filed Sunshine Law requests. I stood up at the meetings and asked basic questions: How long is the data kept? Who can look at it? What happens if the system is misused? I still go because the answers have never been clear enough for the people who live here.
Then I watched the long video by Benn Jordan called Flock Fever: A Review of Government Surveillance. It put a lot of the national picture into one place, and it lined up with the concerns I’ve been raising locally.
Jordan talks about Flock employees who were caught watching a live stream of a children’s playground. He covers a case where a police officer may have used the cameras to track a vehicle tied to a child involved in a sexual-assault investigation. He shows how easy it has been, at times, for outsiders to gain control of certain Flock cameras, pull 30 days of footage, and even alter or delete what the police might later rely on. He notes that many cities across the country have since removed the cameras, and that the issue became big enough to help remove some elected officials who defended the systems without real safeguards.
Most important to me, the video keeps coming back to democracy. Jordan points out that the Fourth Amendment already lets police get a court order when there’s actual suspicion—whether it’s an Amber Alert or a serious crime. Permanent, warrantless tracking of ordinary drivers is not required for those emergencies. He also shares survey numbers: in a random sample of Americans, only about 12 percent said police should be able to track people without a warrant, and 63 percent said they would not vote for a candidate who wants to expand this kind of surveillance.
That matches how I feel. I support our police having tools that actually solve crimes. I do not support a system that photographs every car—including the ones carrying kids to the park or grandmas to the grocery store—and stores that information with a private company while ordinary citizens still have to fight for basic transparency.
I’ve been trying to get this conversation in front of more people who can actually do something about it. I even sent an email to Senator Josh Hawley asking him to come speak to the Ozark Board of Aldermen, or at least Zoom in, while he’s home for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Local boards make the contracts. Local boards can demand better rules or end them. Having a U.S. Senator willing to look at the same issues Jordan laid out would help the people of Ozark understand what’s really at stake.
If you’ve landed on this page, you’re welcome here. Watch the Jordan video for the national picture. Then come to the next Board of Aldermen meeting if you can. Ask the same questions I’ve been asking: Who sees the data? How long is it kept? What stops someone from using these cameras for something other than the crimes they claim to stop?
The cameras are already here. The only question left is whether the people who live under them get a real say in how they’re used.
That’s why I keep showing up.
— Buddy Huggins
Ozark, Missouri
How to Speak at the Ozark Board of Aldermen Meetings
The Ozark Board of Aldermen meets on the first and third Mondays of every month at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, 205 N. 1st Street, Ozark, MO.
If you want to speak, the city requires you to sign up by 5:00 p.m. the Wednesday before the Monday meeting. You can do that by:
- Emailing the City Clerk at chodges@ozarkmissouri.org, or
- Calling the City Clerk at 417-581-2407.
Some people also stop by City Hall in person that Wednesday to make sure their name is on the list. Either way, the deadline is firm: if you miss the Wednesday 5 p.m. cutoff, you will not be allowed to speak at that Monday’s meeting.
Next meetings coming up:
- Monday, November 2, 2026 — sign-up deadline is Wednesday, October 28, 2026 by 5:00 p.m.
- Monday, November 16, 2026 — sign-up deadline is Wednesday, November 11, 2026 by 5:00 p.m.
Meetings are open to the public and also streamed online if you can’t attend in person. Packets are usually posted by the Friday before the meeting.
If you’re planning to speak about the Flock cameras (or anything else), mark the Wednesday deadline on your calendar and get your name in. The process is a little extra step, but that’s how the city currently handles public comment.
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