Collegedale Commissioners vote to end Flock camera contract amid privacy concerns

Our Take

Local 3 News is reporting that Collegedale commissioners voted to end their Flock Safety camera contract after privacy concerns from the community. We don't have the full details of the vote or the debate that led to it, but the headline alone matters: a local government actually reconsidered a surveillance contract after hearing from the people it was watching.

This is the pattern DeFlock The USA exists to document. City councils and commissions quietly sign multi-year deals for networks of license plate readers, and most residents never know the cameras went up until someone starts asking questions. When that happens — when commissioners actually weigh civil liberties against a vendor's sales pitch — contracts can get reversed. Collegedale joins a short but growing list of towns where public pressure changed the outcome, not just the conversation.

If you want to see whether Flock or similar ALPR systems are already running in your town, check our camera map. And if you'd rather not wait for a news crew to show up before your local board votes, our take-action page has tools for raising this exact issue at your next council meeting. Credit to Local 3 News for covering a story that a lot of outlets skip entirely.