Law agencies shift from Flock to rival ALPR providers amid privacy concerns
Following widespread criticism of Flock Safety's license-plate reader system, dozens of municipalities have ended contracts and some are signing deals with competitors such as Axon, Motorola Solutions and Verkada.
Dozens of cities have terminated or declined new contracts with Flock Safety after public criticism of its automated license-plate reader (ALPR) technology, prompting several law-enforcement agencies to turn to rival vendors. A crowdsourced database tracked by DeFlock.org shows that about 100 municipalities have deactivated Flock cameras or cancelled agreements, while others, including Denver and Longmont, Colorado, have signed contracts with companies like Axon.
Axon’s chief executive told investors that a “significant number of agencies want to come over to Axon and convert from existing license plate readers to us,” citing the firm’s privacy controls. The company declined to disclose the exact revenue gained from former Flock customers. Flock’s CEO, Garrett Langley, said the firm expects to add “seven times the number of new customers that have left us this year,” and expressed surprise at Denver’s decision to work with a vendor that also contracts with immigration authorities.
Privacy advocates argue that the shift does not resolve broader surveillance issues. A senior policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation noted that the national database linking ALPR images across jurisdictions creates a “window into a whole network of surveillance,” and warned that data can be used for purposes such as immigration enforcement or investigations unrelated to local laws. The ACLU described recent Flock policy changes—shorter data retention and tighter local-search safeguards—as insufficient.
Experts say ALPR systems are only one component of an expanding police-technology ecosystem that includes facial-recognition, predictive policing and real-time crime centers, which collectively raise additional privacy concerns.
"The Flock ALPR technology has captured the public's attention" – Andrew Ferguson, George Washington University law professor.
"People got really mad at Flock because they realized that it was a window into a whole network of surveillance" – Matthew Guariglia, senior policy analyst, Electronic Frontier Foundation.
"For more than 30 years, we've built products to protect life… we know that our customers require solutions that protect data and privacy" – Kate MacKinnon, Axon spokesperson.