Police Chiefs Replace New Cops with Flock Subscriptions

Our Take

Hard Hat Economics just laid out something we've been saying for a while with actual receipts: the "public safety technology" pitch isn't additive, it's a swap. The video points to a Berkeley staff report that says the quiet part out loud — eliminating up to six sworn officer positions to cover recurring technology subscription costs — plus on-camera admissions in Springfield, MO and a proposed deal in Meridian, Idaho. This isn't a conspiracy theory. It's in the budget documents.

This matters because the sales pitch for ALPR networks and Axon's ecosystem has always leaned on the idea that cameras are a force multiplier, not a force replacement. But subscriptions don't patrol, don't build community trust, and don't disappear when the vendor jacks up renewal prices — and departments that lock themselves into these recurring contracts are trading flexible personnel budgets for permanent surveillance overhead. Credit to Hard Hat Economics for digging through council documents most residents never read and connecting the dots across three different cities.

If your town is quietly funding a camera network instead of officers, you should know where those cameras are and who's watching. Check our map to see what's already deployed near you, and if you want to push back before your city council signs the next multi-year contract, our take action page has the tools to start.