CITY REMOVES FLOCK CAMERAS!
The short version: Boston reportedly dropped Flock Safety after the company allegedly violated its contract almost immediately, a win worth studying as a blueprint for other cities.
Our Take
Credit to Democrats Deliver HQ for flagging this one: Boston apparently pulled the plug on its Flock Safety license plate readers after the company allegedly broke the terms of its own contract almost as soon as the ink dried. We don't have the full paperwork in front of us, so we're not going to pretend we know every clause that was violated — but the headline itself is a big deal. Cities rarely walk away from these systems once they're installed, even when problems surface.
This matters because the entire ALPR industry runs on trust that city councils rarely verify. Contracts are supposed to be the guardrail — limiting data retention, restricting who can query the system, barring data-sharing with ICE or out-of-state agencies. When a vendor allegedly ignores those terms within months of signing, it's a reminder that a signature on a PDF means nothing without audits, oversight, and a council willing to actually cancel the deal when the vendor doesn't comply.
If you want to see whether your own city has Flock cameras watching your commute, check our camera map, and if you'd rather your town follow Boston's lead than keep rubber-stamping surveillance contracts, our take-action page has the tools to push back before the cameras go up — or after.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Democrats Deliver HQ, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.