Flock CEO says no police contracts terminated over misuse; FOP publicly rebukes him

First reported: October 16, 2026 · 1 source

At TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 in San Francisco, Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley told TechCrunch editor-in-chief Connie Loizos that the company has not ended any police department's contract over documented misuse of its license-plate reader network, despite reporting this year identifying at least 50 officers accused or charged with abusing such systems, 46 of those cases involving Flock cameras. Langley has said in interviews that Flock's real customer is the community rather than police and has predicted that officers who misused the system will face arrests. The Fraternal Order of Police, which says it represents more than 382,000 officers, responded with a press release titled "Who the Flock Do You Think You Are?" in which national president Patrick Yoes characterized Langley's comments as a betrayal of the departments that have bought the product.

Why this matters

The exchange highlights an unresolved accountability question for communities using ALPR networks: whether a vendor will impose consequences on agencies where misuse is documented, or rely solely on product-side safeguards. It also shows how contractual leverage, rather than public statements, determines what recourse localities actually have.

Key facts

Langley confirmed on stage that Flock has terminated no police contracts over documented misuse.
Reporting this year, including by the Associated Press and local outlets, found at least 50 officers across more than a dozen states accused of or charged with misusing ALPR systems; 46 cases involved Flock cameras.
Cited examples include a woman who found her officer ex-boyfriend had searched her and her daughter's locations 600 times, and a former Indiana sheriff's deputy charged over allegedly running more than 2,000 searches on his girlfriend; charges are allegations, not convictions.
Flock operates more than 100,000 readers for agencies in nearly 50 states and has cut default data retention from 30 days to seven, made search audits mandatory, and added Audit Assistance and Proactive Lockout tools plus required case codes.
The company's Ring data-sharing partnership ended this year and the Los Angeles Police Department let its Flock contract expire; the article does not establish whether those were tied to the misuse reporting.

Sources

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

Flock Safety CEO Won't Cut Off Police Despite Dozens of Misuse Cases (Startup Fortune, October 16, 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 October 17, 2026. Corrections: blockflock@bytebunny.io. See all documented incidents or search the full article archive.