Cities Dump Flock Cameras; Rivals Grab Contracts

Flock CEO Garrett Langley is not conceding ground. "On a very personal level, I go to bed every night very proud of the impact we have in the world," he told NPR. He said the company "will have added seven times the number of new customers that have left us this year."

In a Fox News interview Saturday, Langley called for a national middle ground amid the protests and camera vandalism. "I value my privacy… but what we're talking about is safety as well," he said. "What we have to prioritize as a country is compromise: how do we have our safety, and how do we balance privacy?"

He took a shot at Denver's decision to sign a one-year deal with Axon after residents raised alarms about data sharing for immigration enforcement. "I guess in some ways I scratch my head because that company works with ICE," Langley told NPR. "They lack the accountability and transparency we have, and so I don't know why they made that choice." Axon holds several multimillion-dollar contracts with the Department of Homeland Security for products including body cameras and Tasers.

Axon CEO Rick Smith told investors on the company's most recent earnings call: "We're seeing a significant number of agencies want to come over to Axon and convert from existing license plate readers to us." He credited the company's "controls and privacy work." Axon declined to tell NPR how much business it has picked up from canceled Flock contracts.

"For more than 30 years, we've built products to protect life," Axon spokeswoman Kate MacKinnon said in an email to NPR. "As new technologies emerge, we know that our customers require solutions that protect data and privacy."

Police defend the tool. Palo Alto Police Chief James Reifschneider called the readers a "tremendous investigative tool" in a statement to The Independent. "It has helped us solve cases, recover stolen vehicles and property, apprehend wanted individuals, and safely locate missing and suicidal persons. I am confident that our officers are using the technology responsibly and to good effect," he said.

Opponents want the contracts gone, period. "We need to cancel these contracts," DeFlock DC member Loreal Hawk told the Washington gathering. The ACLU called Flock's new safeguards largely unsatisfying.