Flock cameras: Wisconsin cities to end use, mayor answers questions | FOX6 News Milwaukee

Our Take

Credit to FOX6 Milwaukee for getting the mayor on camera to answer for it. Oconomowoc's Common Council didn't just let a Flock Safety contract quietly expire — they passed a resolution to end it outright. That's a city government on record saying the juice isn't worth the squeeze, whether the concern was cost, effectiveness, privacy, or all three. Wisconsin is quickly becoming a bellwether state for this fight, and wins like this matter far beyond one city's limits.

What makes stories like this valuable is that they puncture the narrative Flock Safety sales reps love to push: that once a department signs on, ALPR dragnets are permanent infrastructure nobody questions. Oconomowoc shows that's not true. Elected officials can revisit these contracts, ask hard questions about who's accessing the data and why, and decide that blanket license-plate tracking of every driver isn't a trade-off their residents signed up for. That's exactly the kind of local accountability this technology has mostly evaded.

If you're in Wisconsin or anywhere else wondering whether your town has quietly wired itself into this network, check the map to see what's already installed near you, and hit up our take-action page for tools to bring the same kind of pressure to your own council meeting.