Henry County Sheriff's Office to end contract with Flock Safety amid privacy concerns

Our Take

Credit to WFXR News for catching this one: a sheriff's office actually walking back a Flock Safety contract instead of quietly renewing it. That's rare. Most agencies sign these deals with little public debate and even less follow-up scrutiny, so a department publicly citing privacy concerns as the reason to cut ties is worth highlighting.

The details here are thin — we don't know exactly what triggered the reversal or what "other options" means — but the symbolism matters. Flock's pitch to local governments has always been that ALPR networks are a low-cost, low-controversy tool. Henry County's move suggests that pitch doesn't hold up once officials actually sit with the implications: a private company logging where every car in the county goes, data shared across a national network, and little independent oversight of how it's used.

One county stepping back doesn't dismantle the surveillance dragnet, but it's a data point other communities can point to when they push back on their own contracts. If you want to see how many of these cameras are already watching your area, check our map, and if you'd rather your city not sign a Flock deal at all, our take-action page has the tools to start that fight.