30+ Cities Have Canceled Flock Safety Contracts. The List Keeps Growing.

An empty multi-lane road stretching into the distance with overhead highway signs

TL;DR: Since late 2024, at least 30 US cities and agencies have canceled, suspended, or refused to renew contracts with Flock Safety: the Atlanta-based company whose automated license plate readers scan 20 billion plates per month across 5,000+ communities. The reasons fall into three buckets: unauthorized federal agency access to local data, lies to city councils about surveillance capabilities, and fears that camera data feeds ICE deportation operations. Denver ripped out all 110 cameras. Oshkosh rescinded a contract less than 24 hours after approving it when police discovered Flock lied about heat maps. The cancel wave is accelerating: and it's the most effective pushback against automated surveillance happening in America right now.

The Pattern

Every cancellation follows roughly the same script. A city signs a contract with Flock Safety, usually after a free trial or a pitch about solving car thefts. Cameras go up at intersections. Plates get scanned. Then someone (a council member, an auditor, a journalist, a resident who filed a public records request) discovers the data isn't staying local.

Federal agencies are querying it. Sometimes it's ICE. Sometimes it's the ATF, the Air Force, or the GSA Inspector General. Sometimes it's agencies the city has never heard of, accessing data from cameras the city paid for, without anyone in city hall knowing it was happening.^[1]

Then the city cancels. And the next city starts asking questions.

The Full List

Here's every confirmed cancellation, suspension, or non-renewal we've tracked. The list is almost certainly incomplete: smaller municipalities don't always make the news.

California

Santa Cruz: Canceled January 2026 after discovering data was accessed by out-of-state agencies and shared with ICE.^[2]
Mountain View: Disabled all 30 cameras on February 3, 2026 after audit revealed ATF, Air Force, and GSA Inspector General had unauthorized access.^[1]
Oxnard: Suspended February 27, 2026 after audit found data was shared with federal agencies through a "nationwide query" setting that violated state law. Camera lenses physically covered.^[3]
South Pasadena: Council canceled contract for 14 cameras after reports that Southern California agencies illegally shared Flock data with federal immigration agents.^[4]
Foothill-De Anza Community College District: Discontinued contract, covered camera lenses since February 15, 2026, disabled all data sharing.^[5]

Colorado

Denver: Removed all 110 cameras when contract expired March 31, 2026. Replaced with 50 Axon cameras under stricter data controls. Privately owned Flock cameras in the city remain operational.^[6]

Illinois

Evanston: Canceled contract. Later caught Flock attempting to reinstall cameras after cancellation.^[7]

Massachusetts

Cambridge: Canceled late 2025 after Flock secretly installed two cameras without city authorization.^[8]

Oregon

Eugene: Terminated contract December 2025 after a camera was reactivated without authorization.^[9]
Springfield: Ended agreement December 2025 before cameras went live.^[9]
Bend: Removed four cameras January 2026 citing security concerns and federal compliance fears.^[10]

Arizona

Flagstaff: Ended agreement December 2025 after sustained resident pushback over data sharing concerns.^[10]

Texas

Austin: Canceled June 2025 after resident pushback over ICE data sharing and wrongful arrest risks. APD later found a loophole to keep using cameras through other agencies in February 2026.^[11]

Virginia

Staunton: Police Chief Jim Williams terminated contract December 19, 2025, removing all stationary ALPR cameras.^[12]

Washington State

Lynnwood: First Washington city to cancel an active Flock contract. Police Chief Cole Langdon discovered out-of-state agencies were accessing the network after cameras went live.^[13]
Mountlake Terrace: Unanimous council vote to end contract before cameras were even installed.^[14]
Redmond: Deactivated cameras November 2025 while reevaluating contract after resident complaints.^[15]
Olympia: Uninstalled 15 cameras and canceled pilot program December 2025.^[10]

Wisconsin

Oshkosh (Council voted 7-0 to rescind contract on April 23, 2026) less than 24 hours after approving it. Police Chief Dean Smith discovered Flock had lied about heat map tracking capabilities during the council meeting.^[16]

Additional cities and agencies across multiple states have suspended or are actively reconsidering contracts. The total count exceeds 30 confirmed actions since late 2024.^[2]

Why Oshkosh Matters

The Oshkosh cancellation on April 23 might be the most damaging single incident for Flock's credibility.

During the contract renewal discussion on April 21, Council Member Brad Spanbauer asked a direct question: "Does the system create a heat map of a vehicle's movement using multiple aggregated images?"

Flock's representative answered flatly: "No."^[16]

That was a lie. Police Chief Dean Smith had personally seen heat maps generated by the system. A Flock employee later confirmed on the record that the system can "average out where a vehicle travels most on a day-to-day basis" and display it on a map.^[16]

"Because of this misrepresentation, I can no longer recommend Flock," Smith told the council the next day. The vote to rescind was unanimous.^[16]

When your own police chief can't trust your vendor, the contract is dead.

Denver: 110 Cameras Gone

Denver's decision to let its Flock contract expire on March 31, 2026 was the biggest single removal by camera count. The city decommissioned and physically removed all 110 cameras installed at intersections over the previous two years.^[6]

The replacement? Fifty Axon cameras (less than half the Flock total) under a contract with stricter data governance provisions.^[6]

But here's the catch Denver residents should know: privately owned Flock cameras installed by homeowner associations and businesses throughout the city are still running. The city's contract covered police-operated cameras. The private network (which Flock has aggressively marketed to HOAs nationwide) is untouched.^[6]

The Three Reasons Cities Cancel

After tracking 30+ cancellations, the reasons cluster into three categories:

1. Unauthorized Federal Access

Mountain View's audit found the ATF, Air Force, and GSA Inspector General in its data. Oxnard found a "nationwide query" setting sharing data with federal agencies against state law. Lynnwood's police chief found out-of-state agencies on the network. The pattern is consistent: cities don't know who's querying their cameras until someone checks.^[1][3][13]

2. ICE and Immigration Enforcement

Santa Cruz, South Pasadena, Austin, and multiple Washington state cities specifically cited concerns about Flock data feeding ICE operations. In sanctuary jurisdictions, this is a deal-breaker. Cities that passed policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement discovered their cameras were doing the cooperating for them.^[2][4][11] The same pattern is now reaching school camera networks feeding immigration enforcement.

3. Flock Lied

Cambridge found cameras installed without authorization. Eugene found a camera reactivated without permission. Evanston caught Flock trying to reinstall after cancellation. Oshkosh caught a representative lying about heat maps to the city council. The trust failures are systemic, not isolated.^{[7][8][9][16]}

The Company's Response

Flock Safety, now valued at $8.4 billion after an April 2026 funding round, operates over 100,000 cameras across 49 states. The company claims its cameras have helped solve over 300,000 crimes. It argues that data-sharing controls exist and that cities can configure access settings.^[17]

The problem with that argument: cities keep discovering that default settings share data more broadly than they authorized, and Flock representatives keep making claims to city councils that turn out to be false.

Meanwhile, Flock's business model hasn't slowed. For every city that cancels, the company signs contracts with dozens of smaller towns and private entities. The private-camera network (HOAs, businesses, apartment complexes) doesn't require a city council vote and doesn't face the same public scrutiny.

What Your City Should Ask

If your city is considering a Flock contract, or already has one, here's what to demand:

Audit federal access logs. Find out which agencies have queried your data and when. If your city can't get this information, that's your answer.
Ask about heat maps. Under oath. Flock's own employees have confirmed the capability exists, even when sales reps deny it.
Check the default sharing settings. "Nationwide query" and "hot list" features may be enabled without explicit local approval.
Ask if cameras can be reactivated remotely. Eugene and Cambridge both discovered cameras operating without local authorization.
Request the full list of agencies with access. Not the list Flock shows you: the actual server-side access log.
Review the contract termination clause. Some cities faced financial penalties for early cancellation. Know what you're signing.

The Bigger Picture

Thirty cancellations out of 5,000+ Flock communities is a small percentage. But the trajectory matters. The pace accelerated sharply in early 2026 after NPR, LAist, and the EFF published investigations documenting unauthorized federal access.^[2][18]

The cities canceling tend to be the ones with engaged residents, active press, and councils willing to scrutinize contracts. They're also the ones setting precedent. Every cancellation generates local news coverage. Every news story makes the next city council member ask harder questions.

Flock's real vulnerability isn't the 30 cities that said no. It's the thousands of cities that haven't audited their data yet.