Local Governments and Law Enforcement Agencies Reconsidering Use of Flock Cameras

Friday, September 11th, 2026 -- 9:00 AM

(Richelle Wilson, Wisconsin Public Radio) Local governments and law enforcement agencies around Wisconsin are reconsidering their use of Flock cameras amid concerns over who has access to the massive datasets the technology company collects.

According to Richelle Wilson with the Wisconsin Public Radio, over the past week, at least a dozen communities across the state have suspended their contracts with Flock Safety, the company behind Flock automated license plate readers that record vehicle sightings and license plates.

Flock cameras have been a point of public controversy around the state over concerns about surveillance and police misuse. But this latest wave of Flock cancellations raises a different set of questions: Is the company allowed to profit from selling anonymized data taken from the cameras?

Wisconsin communities are responding with a resounding “No.” The sheriff’s office in Racine County ordered all of its Flock cameras to be taken down on Friday after learning that the company had offered to sell anonymized traffic data to a third party.

“That is not what we agreed to, and it is not what the public was led to believe,” Sheriff Christopher Schmaling said in a public statement. “If Flock used the public-safety purpose of this technology to build a broader commercial data business without the public’s knowledge, that is a serious breach of trust. We will not tolerate it.”

Captain Cary Madrigal with the Racine County Sheriff’s Office told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” the department thought its contract with Flock stipulated that data could only be used for “legitimate” public safety reasons and retained for a maximum of 30 days.

“To later find out that that is not in fact what they were doing with it is definitely a breach in trust and a breach in the contract,” she said. WPR reached out to Flock Safety for comment and has not received a reply.

In its statement to other media outlets, Flock said, “Online databases featuring data about Flock searches are in no way affiliated with Flock and Flock did not release any data to them. Data on these websites was obtained through public records requests filed in other states. Customers own and control their data and Flock does not sell it.”

In Sheboygan, common council members voted unanimously last night to terminate the city’s contract with Flock after discovering that the company had reportedly tried to sell years of traffic data taken from the cameras back to the city’s own public works department.

“We pride ourselves on being a community that prioritizes community-based policing, and to effectively do that, we need to have trust with our community,” Mayor Ryan Sorenson told “Wisconsin Today.”

“We need to make sure that we have policies and procedures at the local level that reinforce public trust that data is protected and it’s not sold off.” On Tuesday, officials in Stevens Point covered up 10 Flock cameras stationed around the city to prevent them from collecting data.

Mayor Mike Wiza said on “Wisconsin Today” that he is not sure if Flock has attempted to sell their data at this point, and there isn’t a simple way to find out. “We really have no way of auditing where the Flock data goes once it’s collected,” Wiza said. “Our community is not comfortable using these cameras without some assurances that it’s being used in a manner that we have authorized.”

Law enforcement agencies say the Flock cameras can be invaluable for police work. Wiza pointed to “hundreds of cases” assisted by the cameras in Stevens Point, including felony warrants and missing persons. But he is not taking any chances when it comes to data privacy.

“There is good, but does that good outweigh the bad?” Wiza said. “Until we can make that determination and bring that level of comfort back to our community, it’s best just to suspend the use.”

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