At least 10 local governments and police departments in the United States have moved since the summer of 2026 to curb or end their use of Flock Safety surveillance technology, according to a TechCrunch report published on November 5. The driver is growing concern over mass surveillance and data privacy.
Who has already cut ties with Flock
In the past three months, Monroe (Ohio), Newburgh (New York), Richmond (Virginia), Hopkinton (Massachusetts), New Bedford (Massachusetts) and Lansing (Michigan) have moved to end their contracts with the company. Police in East Bridgewater and Grafton, also in Massachusetts, announced plans to stop using the cameras. In League City, Texas, residents voted against continued use of the plate readers, and the cameras are set to be removed.
In Asheville, North Carolina, police lost access to the system after the city voted to end the contract in August. The El Paso County Sheriff's Office in Colorado announced in September that it would stop using Flock cameras. In July, the Los Angeles Police Department let its contract expire, citing civil liberties and privacy concerns. In San Diego, a city committee voted unanimously to advance a proposal to cancel the contract, and in Toledo, Ohio, a council vote ended in a tie, leaving the decision with the mayor.
What Flock sells
Founded in 2017, Flock sells automated license plate readers (ALPR), drones and microphone-based edge-computing devices that detect gunshots. The company says it has more than 100,000 cameras in use across the United States. The cameras photograph the rear of every passing vehicle, read the plate with optical recognition and log the vehicle's make, model, color and distinguishing features, with date, time and location, in a searchable database.
The company's response
Pressure has also reached the state level: Florida barred license plate readers from state highways, and Texas paused state funding for Flock. Not every city cut ties: Cleveland, Ohio, renewed its contract but began restricting immigration-related searches. Flock says the removals are not a product failure but a consequence of eroding public trust — and CEO Garrett Langley told TechCrunch in October that the company has not canceled any police department's contract. The company has also cut the default data-retention period for new customers from 30 days to 7 and now requires a case code before each search.
Also on Geekiki: Reconhecimento facial em Hong Kong: polícia ativa IA nas câmeras de vigilância neste mês.
Image credit: a Flock Safety automated license plate reader in Edina, Minnesota, photographed on September 12, 2026. Image: Tony Webster (Wikimedia Commons).
Sources:
- TechCrunch — "At least 10 local governments have moved to drop Flock's surveillance cameras since summer"
- The Brief — "At Least 10 Local Governments Have Moved to Drop Flock Safety Cameras Since Summer"
- AmeriLedger — "At least 10 local governments have moved to drop Flock's surveillance cameras since summer"
Transparency disclaimer: this article was produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on cross-checking public posts and the internet sources cited above. We recommend consulting the original sources to verify the details.
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