Nearly 100 Cities Shut Down Flock Cameras

"These cameras have helped our police officers do their jobs, and we don't discount that," Tempe Mayor Corey Woods said in a public statement. "But the risk of misuse is too great. We have to be able to provide public safety in a way that maintains the trust of our community. For Tempe, that means taking these cameras down."

Tempe police said monthly audits had turned up no improper searches of the city's own system. But in nearby Apache Junction, an officer was placed on administrative leave after being accused of using Flock to track his wife.

Bellingham's chief said he was blindsided by what the platform could do. Fitzgerald cited Flock's "FreeForm" feature, which lets users search the company's database of visual information in plain language. "Those features go beyond what most people would think of as a traditional license plate reader," he wrote. "That concerns me because I had previously told the public, based on our understanding of the system, that our Flock technology was a license plate reader only."

Douglas police were blunter about the politics: "The Flock system has been an effective investigative tool for us and has been instrumental in helping us solve several serious crimes. However, given the divisive atmosphere surrounding its use we believe deactivating the system is the appropriate decision at this time."

In Santa Barbara, Police Chief Kelly Gordon defended the cameras, saying they helped identify suspects in a serial jewelry store robbery, a stabbing and attempted homicide, and a 2025 assault. Solved violent crime cases rose 11% and solved hit-and-run cases rose 9% after the cameras went in, she said. Gordon also stressed the cameras read plates but cannot do facial recognition — a point proved when one of the city's own Flock cameras was stolen and police could not identify the thief.

Residents pushed back anyway. Eric Boser told the council "we've seen across the country" how the technology can be "abused, misused, and target members of our community." Britney Sarate, whose father spent 30 years in law enforcement, said there is "case after case" of the technology being used to "stalk women."

Councilwoman Kristen Sneddon said the issue is bigger than her own department: "This is not about our local police. This is about the ability of data to be breached, the ability for data to be used in very targeted nefarious ways. It's about federal overreach, it's about regional overreach."

Councilman Mike Jordan dissented, saying his own family had benefited: "If somebody's kid or grandkid was picked up and an ALPR remedied that crime with the safe return of the kid, I think if I was against ALPR, I would come to Jesus pretty quick, right then and there."

The ACLU says Flock and similar vendors have built "an inherently authoritarian infrastructure" of surveillance-based information. Flock did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.