Redwood City reportedly ending Flock Safety camera contract
The short version: Redwood City reportedly walking away from its Flock Safety contract is a reminder that these deals aren't permanent and public pressure can actually unwind them.
Our Take
Credit to Bay Area Report for flagging this one — a city quietly stepping back from a Flock Safety contract is the kind of local news that rarely gets coverage, but it matters a lot more than another ribbon-cutting for a new camera cluster. Every ALPR deployment gets sold to a city council as a quick, cheap fix for crime, and almost none of the coverage afterward asks whether the promises panned out, what the cameras actually cost in data and privacy, or whether residents ever got a real say.
If Redwood City is indeed ending its contract, it joins a short but growing list of municipalities rethinking blanket license-plate surveillance after living with it for a while. That's worth watching closely: these reversals often come down to cost overruns, lack of measurable results, or public records requests revealing how the data was actually used — not flashy press releases. It's also a reminder that a signed contract isn't permanent; councils can be pushed to reconsider, especially when residents show up and ask hard questions.
We'll keep tracking what happens next in Redwood City and update our camera map accordingly. If you want to push your own city toward the exit the way Redwood City apparently has, our take-action page has the tools to get started.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Bay Area Report, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.