Articles
What the Flock?
An index of reporting, court records, and public filings showing what happens beyond Flock's public-safety claims. These are the documented problems, mistakes, and abuses that can be easy to miss when the story comes only from the vendor or the agencies using the cameras.
114 articles · page 2 of 6 · RSS
-
Newburgh City Council votes to end Flock contract
wamc.org
The Newburgh City Council voted Monday to end the city's contract with Flock Safety and discontinue routine use of its license plate readers within 14 days. Audit logs posted on the city website showed the data was accessed thousands of times by agencies nationwide, including a 2025 Texas police search referencing a woman who had an abortion. Reports of officers misusing the cameras preceded the vote.
-
Roseburg residents voice Flock concerns at City Council Meeting
nbc16.com
Residents at a Roseburg, Oregon city council meeting raised privacy and plate-misread concerns about the city's Flock cameras during public comment. The council postponed a planned Roseburg Police Department presentation on the system, which stated that data is shared only with Oregon Flock partners and access is limited to department personnel. The city authorized its Flock contract in 2023 and renewed it this year for 15 cameras through 2028.
-
Flock’s nationwide surveillance network faces mounting scrutiny
biometricupdate.com
A US Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing examined Flock Safety's ALPR network after the company told investigators it conducts little oversight of customer searches and that some cameras can search images for people. Indiana prosecutors charged officers over thousands of personal lookups, Boston reported that a vendor error exposed its data externally, and a Florida woman testified she spent 13 days in jail after investigators relied on a Flock image.
-
City Council passes temporary ordinance continuing Flock shutdown
newbedfordlight.org
The New Bedford City Council voted 8-3 for a temporary ordinance barring license plate reader use and blocking renewal of the city's Flock contract, which expires Nov. 12. Cameras have been off since August after two officers were accused of using them to track romantic partners. Police Chief Jason Thody sent an 11-page response backing audits, retention limits, and public reporting while opposing disclosure of camera locations.
-
Columbus City Council will not introduce legislation on Flock cameras by end of September
wosu.org
Columbus City Council Member Emmanuel Remy said he will miss his stated goal of introducing legislation on Flock Safety license plate readers by the end of September, giving no new date. Mayor Andrew Ginther had paused use of the city's 65 Flock cameras after a police officer allegedly searched the same plate more than 200 times outside any investigation. Remy said the eventual package will cover surveillance technology broadly, and several council members oppose renewing the contract in December.
-
At least 900 Flock cameras have been unplugged in Texas since state funding was cut
keranews.org
At least 14 Texas cities and counties have shut off more than 900 Flock cameras after Gov. Greg Abbott blocked state grant money in late August. Laredo will put a nonbinding referendum on keeping 165 cameras to voters in May. Pflugerville and Hutto ended contracts after learning hundreds of outside agencies had accessed their camera data.
-
Five Indianapolis police officers charged for misusing Flock cameras
indianapublicradio.org
Marion County prosecutors charged five Indianapolis Metropolitan Police officers with fraud and official misconduct over thousands of allegedly impermissible Flock license plate searches, including searches for ex-partners and women one officer pursued. The misuse surfaced after an officer self-reported and an audit followed. IMPD now requires case numbers and crime codes for searches but will not reduce its 301 leased cameras.
-
Always Watching: Congress Begins Investigating Flock Cameras
dailysignal.com
A Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing chaired by Sen. Josh Hawley examined the roughly 120,000 Flock Safety cameras operating nationwide, which capture over 20 billion images monthly. CEOs of Flock, Axon, Motorola Solutions, and Verkada declined to testify. A witness, Lindsey Isaacs, described being jailed 13 days after being wrongly accused of murder based on Flock footage. Senators discussed retention limits and a possible warrant requirement.
-
Flock Wants the Most Detailed Map of Its Surveillance Cameras Taken Offline
theintercept.com
A cybersecurity researcher published a map showing more than 170,000 Flock cameras and about 130,000 related devices, roughly 300,000 units total, far above the 120,000 Flock cited publicly. The locations came from an unauthenticated access token that exposed Flock's ArcGIS records in late 2025. Flock has said it never had a data breach, and a firm acting for the company has demanded the map be taken down.
-
Plymouth is latest Minnesota city to ditch Flock cameras
mprnews.org
The Plymouth, Minnesota city council voted to end use of the city's 16 Flock license plate reader cameras, with only the mayor dissenting. Council members cited concerns that agencies outside Plymouth could access the data, referencing reporting that federal agencies obtained Minnesota Flock data for immigration enforcement and that about 50 officers nationally were accused of misuse. Plymouth joins more than a dozen Minnesota jurisdictions pausing or ending Flock use.
-
Three takeaways from the Senate hearing on Flock's camera network
yahoo.com
A Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on Flock Safety heard from five witnesses, including a Florida woman jailed for 13 days after a camera image linked her SUV to a fatal crash. Testimony described more than 240 catalogued ALPR misuse incidents, unaudited searches in Norfolk, exposed camera administrative interfaces, and federal agents obtaining data through local officers. No company representative testified; Flock's CEO sent a letter instead.
-
Flock cameras draw bipartisan concerns at Senate hearing
rollcall.com
Senators from both parties raised concerns about AI-powered surveillance cameras and license plate readers at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing. The CEOs of Flock Safety, Axon, Motorola Solutions and Verkada declined to testify. Witnesses included a Florida woman who said she was wrongfully accused based on a camera image, a lawyer urging warrant requirements and retention limits, and an engineer questioning Flock's data security. Four House bills on the technology were noted.
-
TODAY: US Senate hearing follows our investigations exposing police Flock abuse
atlantanewsfirst.com
The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism scheduled a hearing titled "Always Watching: Flock's Nationwide AI Surveillance Network," inviting the CEOs of Flock Safety, Axon, Motorola Solutions and Verkada. The hearing follows reporting by Brendan Keefe documenting at least 19 Georgia cases in one year of officers arrested or relieved of duty for personal use of ALPR data, and Flock's removal of officer names and plate numbers from network audit logs.
-
Monroe Kills Flock Safety Contract, Shuts Down All 23 License-Plate Cameras
hoodline.com
Monroe's city council voted unanimously to end its Flock Safety contract, switching off all 23 license-plate-reading cameras. Aggregated reporting says more than 50 agencies or communities have canceled, suspended, or rejected Flock contracts since the start of 2026, and Flock now recommends seven-day data retention plus tools to flag abusive searches. Ohio has no statewide ALPR retention or audit rules.
-
Local city council unanimously votes to end contract with Flock amid privacy concerns
dayton247now.com
Monroe, Ohio council members voted unanimously to terminate the city's Flock Safety contract and deactivate all 23 license plate reading cameras. The city had approved a two-year contract in 2024 at a cost of $149,950. Residents spoke on both sides, with some citing a digital dragnet and others arguing plates in public view carry no privacy expectation. Council members noted voters could restore the program later.
-
Auburn voters to decide on automatic license plate reader ban next year
wgme.com
Auburn city councilors rejected immediate adoption of a citizen-led petition to ban automatic license plate readers, sending the measure to a special election within four to six months. The petition followed residents learning that police had installed Flock Safety cameras last summer; the units are currently switched off because of budget cuts. The city attorney said the ban's wording could block police access to other law enforcement databases.
-
Flock Offers Employees Buyouts as Customers Flee
wired.com
Flock Safety opened a voluntary severance program for its roughly 1,500 employees, described internally as its most generous ever, as the company loses customers. One advocacy group counted 93 city and county governments ending ties with Flock in August alone, with about three times as many local governments dropping the company in 2026 as in the prior five years. Vandalism of cameras has also raised costs.
-
Hutto City Council votes to end use of Flock Safety license plate readers
communityimpact.com
Hutto City Council voted unanimously on Sept. 18 to discontinue the police department's use of 10 Flock Safety license plate reader cameras, which were taken down before the vote. City staff cited concerns that partner agencies accessing the data are not bound by Hutto Police Department policies, along with questions about artificial intelligence developments. Nearby Pflugerville, Bastrop, Liberty Hill and Leander also recently ended Flock use.
-
Flock Camera Hacked, Data on Thousands of Vehicles Retrieved
texasscorecard.com
A hacker group calling itself stegan0gram physically removed and reverse engineered a Flock camera, sharing methods and data with media. Wired reported the device logged 21 days of activity covering about 50,200 vehicles, and that its software detects people in images, though no facial recognition was found. Flock called the tampering illegal and pointed to its vulnerability disclosure process. Several Texas cities have recently cancelled or paused Flock contracts.
-
Texas freezes installation of Flock cameras along state roads
kvia.com
The Texas Department of Transportation stopped issuing permits for Flock cameras and other license plate readers along state roads at Gov. Greg Abbott's direction, a pause that does not remove existing devices, including more than 900 operated by the Department of Public Safety. The move followed Abbott's funding freeze after a Tribune investigation into $30 million directed toward over 3,200 cameras. Florida ordered removals in August.