Flock Camera Abuse: Research Digest

Date saved: 2026-10-27 18:00 (PDT)

Sources: The Drive, Washington Post, Kare 11, ABC7 News, KATV, CBS News, The Auto Wire, Fresno ABC, California Office of Independent Review, Savannah The Current, KRGV, CT Mirror, Axios, Shawn Ryan Show, InvestigateTV, The American Desk, Atlanta News First

Key findings

Cities cancel, Flock ignores, cameras come back

• The Drive (Oct 27, 2026): Flock Safety reinstalled cameras in Dayton, Minnesota after the city voted in August to cancel its contract and told Flock to stop all work. On September 17, the police department got a maintenance work order from Flock; the city told them on September 18 to halt everything. Flock installed two cameras anyway, against the city's explicit direction. Dayton city administrator Zach Doud told Minneapolis NBC affiliate Kare 11 that Flock took five days just to acknowledge the cancellation. (Source)

• The Drive (Oct 27, 2026): Plymouth, Minnesota police chief Eric Fadden directed his staff to disconnect the power cords from Flock cameras after the company ignored the department's cancellation notice. Plymouth's city council voted to end the contract on September 22. Flock did not respond to multiple inquiries from The Drive beyond sending a link to its media FAQ page. Chief Fadden said he heard nothing for more than a week and took matters into his own hands. (Source)

• Kare 11 / Minneapolis NBC (Oct 27, 2026): The Minnesota cities of St. Paul and Crystal removed Flock cameras themselves after their city council votes in August and September. Crystal chief of police Pete Underthun told Kare 11 he personally went to the locations and removed the cameras and poles. The cameras are stored and waiting to be picked up by Flock. Flock told Kare 11 that it is responsible for removing its cameras and that each timeline varies. (Source)

• CT Mirror / AreYouFlocked (Oct 27, 2026): South Windsor, Connecticut's council directed its police chief to stop using Flock cameras immediately and remove them within 60 days. CT Mirror counts this as at least the sixth Connecticut community to cancel this year, after Windsor, Killingworth, Ledyard, Milford, and Newtown. (Source)

Officer abuse cases keep multiplying

• Yahoo News / Fresno ABC7 (Oct 23, 2026): The Fresno Police Department opened an investigation into an officer accused of abusing Flock Safety cameras and misusing the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS) database for reasons not connected to any criminal investigation. The accusations appeared in a report from Fresno's Office of Independent Review, which released its first report in 14 months. Internal Affairs began investigating September 8 after the department used enhanced audit features to find what appeared to be Flock misuse by an officer on August 25. The officer was also accused of not turning on a body-worn camera during a traffic stop. The officer was placed on paid administrative leave. (Source)

• The Auto Wire (Oct 18, 2026): Sharonville, Ohio police Lieutenant Walter Cordes, 48, was indicted on a felony charge of unauthorized use of a computer after searching his department's Flock system 29 times between December 19, 2024 and April 20, 2026 to find where one person was . none of it police business. A department audit flagged the searches in June. A grand jury indicted him on October 13. The same week, Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. announced that three city police officers had been relieved of duty after a department audit found misuse of the city's plate readers. One of them ran 28 searches on a single plate over 10 days. (Source)

• Washington Post / ADN (Oct 21, 2026): Andrae Wright left his job as an investigator at the Effingham County Sheriff's Office in 2021, handed in his gun and badge, but kept his login credentials for Flock and used them to track the locations of romantic partners. The case marked one of at least 11 times government officials discovered unauthorized users gained access to Flock databases. Since Wright was arrested and charged in July, authorities investigated two more former officers . another in Georgia and one in Michigan . for allegedly running Flock searches after their employment ended. (Source)

• KRGV / Texas (Oct 27, 2026): A Lufkin Police Department officer was sentenced to 5 years in prison after pleading guilty to 100 felony counts of abusing official information. He used Flock cameras to stalk several people. A public records request from USA Today prompted both the investigation and an audit of the entire Lufkin Police Department, which flagged a second officer for potential misuse. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has pointed to the case as part of the reason for a crackdown on Flock cameras, blocking state funding and pausing certain installations. Texas city charges $2 million for Flock records as agencies make it harder to see how cameras are used. (Source)

• The Current GA / Savannah (Oct 19, 2026): A two-month investigation by The Current GA mapped the locations of 512 Flock cameras across Coastal Georgia, part of a network operated by 18 law enforcement agencies across seven counties. Savannah Police Department launched an internal investigation about alleged abuse of Flock by four officers and two civilian employees; all six were subsequently fired, but five have appealed their terminations. SPD's disciplinary records show the department investigated Flock abuse as far back as 2024, when an officer used Flock to stalk two fellow officers. He was later terminated and arrested. As of October 14, SPD told The Current it has no open files related to Flock misuse and declined an interview. (Source)

Federal investigation and the bigger surveillance picture

• Axios / AreYouFlocked (2026): Senate Judiciary subcommittee chair Josh Hawley opened an investigation into how Flock Safety collects, retains, and shares data from its camera network. It is the highest-level federal scrutiny the company has faced so far, arriving while cities are canceling contracts on their own. (Source)

• Shawn Ryan Show (Oct 2026): In a multi-part docuseries, Shawn Ryan investigates Flock Safety and the growing surveillance state. The episode covers how a small department in Ohio can search plate data captured by a camera in California without a phone call, a warrant, or a data-sharing agreement most residents have ever seen. It also documents that ICE, the Secret Service, and the Navy ran searches through local Flock networks . sometimes without the knowledge or consent of the local police departments that actually own the cameras. (Source)

• InvestigateTV (Aug 15, 2026): Brendan Keefe's investigation looks at how Flock Safety's cameras are used by law enforcement and how the lack of oversight lags behind the technology's power. The cameras take a photo of every car that passes, stamped with precise time and location, and all of that data is saved in a database for 30 days and shared with connected police departments, allowing the government to go back in time to see where your car was and when. (Source)

Source links

• The Drive: Flock Reinstalled Its Cameras After Another City Canceled Its Contract
• Washington Post: Cops left the force. They kept tracking people with a powerful camera network.
• Shawn Ryan Show: Shawn Ryan Investigates Flock Safety
• InvestigateTV: We investigated Flock cameras and how law enforcement uses them
• Kare 11: Minnesota cities remove Flock cameras after contract cancellations
• The Auto Wire: Sharonville officer indicted, Little Rock officers relieved
• The Current GA: 512 Flock cameras boost Coastal Georgia's growing surveillance network
• KRGV: Texas city charges $2 million for Flock records
• What The Flock Is Going On? . Natalie Bencivenga interviews Ben Camacho