The Flock Rebellion

Cities are canceling license plate surveillance contracts after discovering unauthorized federal access. Mountain View is just the latest.

State of Surveillance Editorial Team

TL;DR: Mountain View, California became the latest city to shut down Flock Safety cameras on February 3, 2026, after an audit revealed the ATF, Air Force, and GSA Inspector General had accessed its surveillance data without authorization. The city joins a growing list of municipalities abandoning the company: Austin, Eugene, Springfield, Flagstaff, Cambridge, Evanston, Staunton, and multiple Washington state cities have all canceled contracts in the past year. The pattern is the same everywhere: cities discover their "local" cameras are feeding a national surveillance network accessible to federal agencies, and they pull the plug. Flock operates in 5,000+ communities scanning 20 billion license plates monthly. Community pressure is working.

Mountain View Pulls the Trigger

Police Chief Mike Canfield announced Monday that Mountain View would disable all 30 of its Flock cameras immediately. The decision came after an audit revealed something the department didn't know: federal agencies had been querying their data for months.[1]

The agencies with unauthorized access included:[2]

  • Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives: offices in Kentucky and Tennessee
  • U.S. Air Force: bases at Langley, Virginia and Ohio
  • GSA Inspector General's Office
  • Lake Mead National Recreation Area: Nevada

None of these agencies should have had access. None asked permission. None notified Mountain View they were searching the city's camera data.

Canfield didn't mince words:

"The existence of access by out of state agencies, without the City's awareness...is frankly unacceptable to me."

The audit found something worse: Flock had activated a statewide lookup tool that let hundreds of California police departments search Mountain View's data for 17 months, without telling the city.[2]

This violated California law. The state prohibits sharing ALPR data with external jurisdictions and bans using the data for immigration enforcement. Mountain View thought they had protections in place. They didn't.

How "Local" Cameras Become Federal Surveillance

Here's the trick Flock doesn't advertise: when your city buys Flock cameras, you're not just buying cameras. You're buying into a network.

Flock operates in 5,000+ communities with 4,800+ law enforcement agencies across 49 states. Their cameras scan over 20 billion license plates every month.[3]

More than 75% of police departments using Flock opt into the company's "national database." This lets any participating agency search any other agency's data, without warrants, without notification, without the originating city's knowledge.[3]

When Mountain View installed cameras to catch local car thieves, they unknowingly gave the ATF in Kentucky the ability to track who drives through their streets. That's not a bug. That's how Flock designed it.

Denver police records showed over 1,400 immigration-related searches since 2024, including ones labeled "ICE."[3] Customs and Border Protection ran approximately 200 searches during a pilot program. The Secret Service, Homeland Security Investigations, and Navy Criminal Investigative Service all had access.

The Growing List of Cities That Said No

Mountain View isn't an anomaly. It's the latest domino. Here's who's pulled the plug:

2026

  • Mountain View, CA (February 2026): Cameras off pending city council review after discovering unauthorized federal access
  • Staunton, VA (January 2026): Canceled after CEO's defiant email and resident pushback. Police Chief Jim Williams called it "democracy in action."[4]
  • Bend, OR (January 2026): City council voted to remove four cameras citing security concerns and federal compliance fears
  • Talent, OR (December 2025): Unanimously paused cameras over Oregon sanctuary law concerns

Late 2025

  • Eugene, OR (December 2025): Terminated contract after a camera was reactivated without authorization. Police found out from a community tipster.[5]
  • Springfield, OR (December 2025): Ended agreement before cameras went live
  • Flagstaff, AZ (December 2025): Month-long resident pushback killed the contract. "A new era" of AI surveillance concerns, one resident said.[4]
  • Olympia, WA (December 2025): Uninstalled 15 cameras, canceled pilot program
  • Mountlake Terrace, WA (November 2025): Unanimously canceled
  • Redmond, WA (November 2025): Deactivated cameras
  • Lynwood, WA (November 2025): Deactivated cameras

Mid-2025 and Earlier

  • Cambridge, MA (Late 2025): Canceled after Flock secretly installed two cameras without authorization. City called it a "material breach of our trust."[4]
  • Evanston, IL (August 2025): Terminated over privacy concerns; Flock attempted unauthorized reinstallation after cancellation
  • Austin, TX (June 2025): Over 30 community groups successfully pressured the council. An audit found 20%+ of searches lacked documentation.[6]
  • Sedona, AZ (2025): Resident Sandy Boyce put it bluntly: "It was like we were building our own prisons, and we were paying for it."[3]
  • Oak Park, IL
  • Scarsdale, NY
  • Gig Harbor, WA

Senator Ron Wyden's message to communities: "reevaluate" your Flock installations.[3]

Why Cities Are Running Now

Three factors are driving the exodus:

1. Immigration Enforcement

In Texas, a Flock-using officer searched 83,000 cameras nationwide to track a woman suspected of self-administering an abortion. The search was part of a death investigation.[3] Oregon cities are worried their sanctuary laws are meaningless if local camera data flows to federal immigration authorities without their knowledge.

2. Trust Violations

Cambridge learned Flock installed unauthorized cameras. Eugene discovered a camera was reactivated after they ordered it off. They found out from a community member, not Flock. Evanston caught Flock trying to reinstall after cancellation. Mountain View had no idea federal agencies were in their system. The pattern is consistent: Flock doesn't ask permission.

3. Security Failures

In late December 2025, security researchers found 67 Flock cameras streaming to the internet without passwords. Anyone could watch live footage, view a month of archived recordings, or delete data. Senator Wyden called for an FTC investigation after logins appeared on Russian cybercrime forums. Flock called it a "limited misconfiguration."[7]

Cities Still Fighting

Not every battle is won. Some cities are keeping their cameras:

  • Florence, OR: Voted narrowly to keep Flock cameras after close council vote
  • Santa Clara County, CA: County-level discussions ongoing about ICE access concerns
  • Syracuse, NY: Was considering cancellation; outcome pending
  • Berkeley, CA: Proposal pending amid controversy

Nearly 800 U.S. cities approved new Flock contracts this year alone.[3] The rebellion is growing, but so is the network.

Flock's Response

Flock spokesperson Holly Beilin told reporters the company is "working through Mountain View's specific questions and concerns directly with the city" and hopes to resume the partnership after the council meeting on February 24.[2]

The company maintains its technology helps solve crimes. They claim over 700,000 crimes annually are solved using Flock data, roughly 10% of reported crime nationwide.

What they don't mention: cities can't control who accesses their data once it's in the system.

What You Can Do

Check If Your City Uses Flock

Many contracts aren't publicized. File a public records request or ask at your next city council meeting. Flock operates in 5,000+ communities, yours might be one.

Show Up to Council Meetings

Bend, Flagstaff, Austin, Staunton: all canceled because residents showed up and demanded answers. Public pressure works.

Ask About Federal Access

Demand your city audit who's accessing their camera data. Mountain View didn't know until they checked. Your police department might not either.

Contact Your State Reps

Oregon is drafting statewide ALPR restrictions for 2027. California's data-sharing law clearly isn't being enforced. State-level regulation is the next frontier.

The Bottom Line

Flock Safety sold cities a simple pitch: local cameras for local crime. But the fine print created a national surveillance network where federal agencies can track anyone's movements without warrants, without notice, and without the originating city's knowledge.

Mountain View's Police Chief thought he was buying crime-fighting tools. He discovered he was feeding data to the ATF in Kentucky and Air Force bases across the country.

Communities are waking up. The cancellations are accelerating: Austin, Eugene, Cambridge, Flagstaff, Staunton, and now Mountain View. Each city that pulls the plug makes it easier for the next one.

Flock processes 20 billion license plate scans a month. Every one of those scans is a data point that can be searched by agencies you've never heard of, for reasons you'll never know.

The rebellion is real. The question is whether your city will join it.

References

  1. Local News Matters - Mountain View Police Turn Off License Plate Readers (February 2026)
  2. The Record - California City Turns Off Flock Cameras After Unauthorized Sharing (February 2026)
  3. NBC News - Police Cameras Track Billions of License Plates Per Month (2026)
  4. SAN - Cities React to Privacy Concerns by Canceling Flock Contracts (2026)
  5. KLCC - Eugene Police Confirms Flock Camera Was Turned On After City Ordered Shutdown (December 2025)
  6. EFF - Austin Organizers Cancel City's Flock ALPR Contract (June 2025)
  7. 404 Media - Flock Safety Cameras Leak Videos to the Public Internet (December 2025)

Published: February 4, 2026