Advocacy tally counts at least 56 U.S. localities dropping or rejecting Flock contracts in 2026

First reported: August 27, 2026 · 3 sources

An aggregated report describes a widening set of U.S. cities and counties stepping back from Flock Safety's automated license plate reader cameras, citing privacy, data-sharing, and misuse concerns. The advocacy group DeFlock counted at least 56 cities and towns that deactivated, rejected, or canceled Flock contracts in 2026, though no central government registry tracks such local decisions. Recent departures include Tempe, Arizona, which switched off its system and said it would end its contract while stating it found no evidence of local misuse, and Texas jurisdictions including Pflugerville, Kendall County, and Hood County. Flock has announced additional safeguards; civil-liberties advocates say the changes do not address who authorizes searches.

Why this matters

The tally and the individual council votes offer other communities a record of how contract cancellations have been justified, and of the audit and data-sharing questions that preceded them. It also highlights that oversight of ALPR networks currently depends largely on internal agency policy rather than external review.

Key facts

DeFlock counted at least 56 cities and towns that deactivated, rejected, or canceled Flock contracts in 2026; no central government database tracks these decisions.
Tempe, Arizona, said it turned off its Flock system and would end its contract, with previously collected data generally deleted after 30 days unless tied to an active case; the police department said it found no evidence of misuse in Tempe.
Pflugerville's City Council voted unanimously to terminate its Flock agreement and deactivate all 28 cameras after reports that hundreds of outside organizations had accessed data from the city's cameras; Kendall County commissioners unanimously declined to renew a contract covering more than 50 cameras, and Hood County discontinued its contract.
A Lufkin, Texas, police officer was indicted on 100 felony counts over allegations he improperly used the Flock system more than 45,000 times in roughly 200 days; an indictment is an allegation, not a conviction.
A Stow, Massachusetts, officer resigned during an investigation prompted by a complaint alleging unauthorized Flock searches involving a personal acquaintance.
Flock said it added an auditing system to flag abnormal searches, shortened data retention, and gave customers the ability to limit which crime categories outside agencies may cite when searching their data.

Sources

This summary was written from the published reporting below and links to it; BlockFlockNow does not reproduce article text.

U.S. Cities Reject Automated License Plate Readers Amid Privacy Concerns and Police Misuse (Headtopics, August 27, 2026)
Lawmakers weigh privacy concerns as more cities reject Flock license plate cameras (Rough Draft Atlanta, August 25, 2026)
Neosho police reject Flock cameras, citing privacy concerns (Newstalk Kzrg, August 27, 2026)

About this record

BlockFlockNow documents reported incidents involving Flock Safety cameras and automated license plate readers: council votes, contract decisions, misuse by authorized users, lawsuits, audits, and community response. Every record is reviewed by a person before publication. New to the topic? Start with What is Flock?, find meetings near you, or learn how to request your town's camera records.

Updated August 28, 2026. Corrections: blockflock@bytebunny.io. See all documented incidents or search the full article archive.