Coopertown, Tennessee mayor says city will end Flock contract and remove four ALPR cameras

Event: September 20, 2026 · First reported: September 21, 2026 · 3 sources

Coopertown Mayor Jeff Smith announced on Facebook that the city will terminate its contract with Flock Safety and remove the police department's four license plate reader cameras, saying the decision followed emails and public and private comments on both sides. Smith said officers will not be permitted to use the cameras even if they still appear active. The announcement came days after Police Chief Tyler Haley posted a letter defending the technology, citing its use in locating missing people and solving crimes. Smith noted the Robertson County Sheriff's Office also operates ALPR cameras inside city limits, and directed questions about those to the sheriff.

Why this matters

Coopertown is a town of roughly 5,000 residents whose elected leadership reversed course on an existing surveillance contract after public feedback, offering another data point for communities weighing ALPR deployments against privacy concerns.

Key facts

Mayor Jeff Smith said the city's four Flock cameras will be terminated and removed to address citizen concerns.
Chief Tyler Haley said the system costs about $12,500 per year.
Haley reported the cameras read more than 585,000 plates since January, while Coopertown officers ran 769 plate searches.
Robertson County Sheriff's Office cameras within Coopertown remain outside the city's decision.
Flock has said it changed default data retention from 30 to 7 days, now requires case numbers for searches, and locks out users with abnormal search patterns.

Sources

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

Middle TN town removing Flock cameras after community feedback (WSMV, September 21, 2026)
Middle TN town removing Flock cameras after community feedback (Newsbreak, September 21, 2026)
Why a Middle Tennessee town is removing Flock cameras (tennessean.com, September 20, 2026)

More from Tennessee

Everything we have documented in Tennessee, or search every Tennessee article in the archive.

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 September 21, 2026. Corrections: blockflock@bytebunny.io. See all documented incidents or search the full article archive.