Stoughton City Council unanimously votes to terminate agreement with Flock Safety

Our Take

Credit to WMTV for catching this one: a Wisconsin city council that approved Flock Safety cameras just months ago turned around and killed the contract, unanimously. That kind of reversal doesn't happen because everything went fine. It happens when officials get an earful from constituents who realize what they actually signed up for — a private network quietly logging every car that passes through town, with data flowing to a company and potentially other agencies far beyond local control.

Stoughton joins a growing list of towns that approved Flock first and asked questions later. The pattern is familiar: a vendor pitch focused on solving a handful of crimes, a quick council vote with little public debate, and then a reckoning once residents realize the system tracks everyone, guilty or not, with no warrant required. Unanimous reversals are rare in local politics — this one suggests the backlash was loud and bipartisan.

If your city is weighing a Flock contract, or already has cameras up, this is the playbook: organize, show up to council meetings, and make the privacy tradeoffs impossible to ignore. Check our camera map to see what's already watching your streets, and hit our take-action page for tools to push back before the vote, not after.