Flock explains why cameras returned after Grass Valley contract ended

Our Take

Credit to ABC10 for catching this one: Grass Valley police ended their Flock Safety contract, and somehow the cameras went back up anyway. Flock's explanation — a glitchy 'automated system' mistakenly triggered replacements — should raise eyebrows, not lower them. If a private surveillance vendor can re-deploy license plate readers on public streets without a human double-checking that a city actually wants them there, that tells you everything about who's really in control of this infrastructure.

This is the same pattern we track across the country: cities sign up for 'trial' or short-term ALPR deals, discover how entrenched the system becomes, and then find out that walking away isn't as simple as flipping a switch. An 'automated system' error is a convenient excuse, but it also exposes how little oversight exists once these cameras are bolted to a pole. Who audits Flock's internal software? Who verifies that canceled contracts actually mean no cameras, no data collection, no license plate logging?

Grass Valley residents thought they'd opted out. Instead, they got a lesson in how hard it is to actually remove automated surveillance once it's installed. Check our camera map to see if Flock or similar ALPR systems are active near you, and visit our take-action page if your city is 'canceling' a contract that apparently didn't stick.