Source : The Verge
PLYMOUTH, Minnesota, November 1, 2026 – Several US cities that have voted to drop Flock Safety’s licence plate reader cameras are finding it hard to get the company to take its equipment away, with one police chief unplugging the cameras himself and another city saying Flock put cameras back into service without permission.
The disputes in two Minnesota cities were reported by The Verge on November 1, drawing on reporting by the motoring site The Drive and local broadcasters. Flock sells its automated licence plate reader system to police departments as a subscription, installing and owning the camera hardware while customers get access to its software.
Plymouth police pull the plug
In Plymouth, a suburb of Minneapolis, the city council voted on September 22 to stop using Flock’s cameras. Police Chief Eric Fadden told The Drive that on the morning of September 23 his department suspended all Plymouth user accounts on Flock and notified the company, before sending a formal cancellation letter by post and email after consulting the city attorney’s office.
“We did not hear any reply from Flock Safety Corporate or Legal, other than some communication with our local representative,” Fadden said. “After hearing nothing for more than a week, I directed our staff to disconnect the power cords from the cameras in order to be sure that they are not functioning or recording plates.”
The city told Minneapolis broadcaster KSTP that Flock acknowledged the termination notice on October 5 and that police physically disconnected all the cameras on October 9. On October 21 the department received a message from Flock saying that contract termination, account deactivation and equipment removal had been started and that its cancellations department would arrange to collect the equipment. No removal date had been set, KSTP reported, and some cameras were still standing more than a month after the vote.
A Flock spokesperson, Andrew Smith, told The Verge: “We are proud of the impact our technology has had in Plymouth. We respect the city’s decision and are working with the customer to have the cameras removed.”
Cameras back up in Dayton
About 20 miles away, the city of Dayton, Minnesota, said Flock put cameras back into service after the city had paused its programme. Dayton’s council voted unanimously in August to pause the programme and remove the cameras, according to Minneapolis broadcaster KARE 11.
In a community update, the city said its police department learned on September 17 of a maintenance work order produced by Flock. “The City notified Flock on September 18, 2026, that the program was on hold, and no work orders were to be completed. Unfortunately, the City’s direction was not followed, and the camera was placed back into service without authorization,” the city said.
City staff then checked other sites and found a second reinstalled camera, and police removed both, KARE 11 reported. Dayton city administrator Zach Doud said Flock had acknowledged the cancellation and told the city it would take 60 days to remove its equipment.
Wider debate over surveillance
The Minnesota cities of St. Paul and Crystal also removed Flock cameras themselves after council votes in August and September, and are storing them while they wait for the company to collect them, The Drive reported. The Verge noted a similar dispute in Illinois, where Elgin Community College sought to end its contract.
Flock’s cameras have become part of a national debate in the United States over policing and surveillance. Some police forces say the technology helps solve crimes, while critics have raised concerns about a network-wide search feature, reports of misuse and cases of vehicles being wrongly flagged.
Source: The Verge on X
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