Another Wisconsin Town Just Told Flock to FLOCK OFF 👋📷

Our Take

Credit to Derrick Evans for tracking this one: the Village of Cottage Grove didn't just let a Flock contract quietly lapse, they voted it down unanimously and told staff to physically cover or rip out cameras that can't be killed remotely. That's not a budget footnote, that's a village board saying the risk wasn't worth it. Pair that with a forthcoming ordinance blocking future purchases or reactivation, and you've got a community trying to make the rollback stick instead of leaving the door open for the next vendor pitch.

This matters because the usual pattern with Flock is momentum in one direction: more cameras, more networked data, more agencies plugged into the same searchable system, with very little public accounting of who queries it and why. Cottage Grove is part of a small but growing list of Wisconsin towns pumping the brakes, and each one that does it unanimously makes it easier for the next town board to ask the same hard questions about data retention, outside access, and whether a private vendor should be holding the keys to everyone's driving history.

If you want to see whether your own town has signed up for this network, check our camera map, and if you'd rather your village board have this conversation before the cameras go up instead of after, our take-action page has the tools to start it.