A Minnesota city voted in September to terminate its contract with Flock Safety and no longer use their automated license plate readers.
But the cameras are still up and recording.
The Plymouth City Council voted to end its relationship with Flock Safety amid a national backlash against the mass surveillance network the company maintains.
Flock acknowledged the termination on October 5, and the cameras were disconnected.
From The Verge:
While more cities are canceling their contracts with Flock Safety, just as many are discovering how difficult that can be in some instances. The city council in Plymouth, Minnesota, voted to terminate its contract with Flock in September, but the company failed to respond to the city’s request. For over a month, the cameras remained up, and the city had received no acknowledgment from the company. So, Police Chief Eric Fadden took matters into his own hands and physically disconnected the cameras.
“After hearing nothing for more than a week, I directed our staff to disconnect the power cords from the cameras in order to be sure that they are not functioning or recording plates,” Fadden told The Drive.
Roughly 20 miles up the road, Dayton, Minnesota, is having its own issues with Flock. In this instance, the company acknowledged the city’s request and said it would take up to 60 days to remove the equipment. Despite this, Flock reconnected two cameras within the city limits without authorization, after a specific request from the local police not to complete the work order.
“After hearing nothing for more than a week, I directed our staff to disconnect the power cords from the cameras in order to be sure that they are not functioning or recording plates,” Plymouth Police Chief Eric Fadden said.
Dayton, Minnesota voted 5 to 0 to cancel its Flock contract. August 25. Three weeks later Flock generated a maintenance work order. The city replied the next day. Program is on hold. No work orders. Flock reinstalled two cameras anyway. And put them in service. The city found out because residents noticed cameras back on the poles. Flock took five days to even acknowledge the cancellation. Then said removing the equipment would take 60 days. Installing them took a work order. Removing them takes two months. Plymouth had the same problem. Flock ignored the cancellation notice for almost two weeks. So the police chief walked over and unplugged the cameras himself. Crystal's police chief removed the cameras and the poles personally. They're sitting in a police garage now. Waiting for Flock to pick them up. Like a vendor who dropped off a couch and never came back for it. Flock's statement says they respect the cities' decisions. And they're working to have the cameras removed. Reports can't say if Flock ignored the order or if the message just never reached the install team. Which is somehow the better version. Either the company defied the city. Or the company doesn't know which of its own customers cancelled. Their CEO says the backlash isn't real. Five Minnesota cities just voted it into existence. And the cameras kept coming back like a bad subscription.
— Abdulkadir | Cybersecurity (@cyber_razz) October 31, 2026
A Flock spokesperson said the company “respect[s] the city’s decision and are working with the customer to have the cameras removed.”
The nearby City of Dayton also halted its surveillance program back in August and removed the cameras. St. Paul and Crystal did the same.
