Fond du Lac, Winnebago counties immediately suspend use of Flock cameras

Our Take

Credit to WBAY TV-2 in Green Bay for catching something telling: Fond du Lac and Winnebago counties didn't suspend their Flock cameras because of a hack or a lawsuit. They pulled the plug after realizing their own search data had already leaked out through disclosures in other states. That's the quiet scandal of Flock Safety's business model — it's not one department's camera network, it's a shared national database, and "shared" means your local sheriff's queries can end up in someone else's public records request three states away.

This is exactly the kind of blind spot we keep flagging. Local officials sign these contracts assuming the data stays local, then discover — often after the fact — that ICE, out-of-state agencies, or random requesters can see who searched what, when, and why. When two counties say "we didn't know," that's not reassuring. That's an admission that elected oversight of this technology has been an afterthought from day one.

If your town has Flock cameras, don't wait for a news investigation to find out how your plate data is being shared. Check our camera map to see what's already been deployed near you, and use our take-action page to push your local officials for the same kind of pause — before your data shows up in someone else's public records response.