Asheville Cuts Flock Contract, But Data Fears Don’t Vanish

Asheville has ended its contract with Flock Safety, according to the Asheville Citizen Times — yet residents’ unease about automated license plate readers hasn’t gone away. That gap between a canceled contract and lingering public concern says a lot about how ALPR surveillance actually works, and why oversight matters even after the cameras come down.

Why a canceled contract isn’t a clean slate

Automated license plate readers work by photographing every passing vehicle’s plate, location, time, and often the make, model, and color of the car — regardless of whether the driver is suspected of anything. That data typically doesn’t just sit with the police department that owns the cameras. It’s often stored on vendor servers, shared through regional or national networks, and retained for weeks or months depending on local policy.

When a city ends a contract, the cameras usually stop collecting new data. But questions often remain: What happened to the data already gathered? Was it shared with other agencies, including federal agencies, before the contract ended? Are there audit logs showing who accessed it and why? The Citizen Times report doesn’t detail Asheville’s specific data-retention or sharing practices, but these are the standard questions any community should ask after an ALPR program winds down.

Why residents’ fears are reasonable

It’s well established that ALPR networks can track a vehicle’s movements over time, building a picture of where someone lives, works, worships, or seeks medical care — even for people never accused of a crime. That’s true whether a single city runs the system or it’s part of a larger regional sharing network. Ending one city’s contract doesn’t necessarily unwind those broader data-sharing arrangements or guarantee that historical data was deleted rather than retained by the vendor or partner agencies.

What this means for other communities

Asheville’s experience is a reminder that the fight over ALPRs isn’t only about whether a city signs or cancels a contract — it’s about transparency at every stage: what data is collected, how long it’s kept, who can access it, and what accountability exists if that access is abused. Communities considering Flock or similar systems, or those winding one down, should demand clear answers on all of these points before, during, and after any contract.

Want to see where these systems operate near you? Check out the map, learn the basics at our ALPR primer, or find out how to push for accountability in your own city at take action.

Source: The Asheville Citizen Times