Sterling Police Department ending contract with Flock Safety

Our Take

Credit to WQAD News 8 for flagging this one: the Sterling Police Department is pulling the plug on its Flock Safety contract, effective immediately. The report doesn't give us a full breakdown of what drove the decision, so we won't speculate — but the headline itself matters. Every ALPR deployment gets sold to city councils and police commissions as a permanent fixture of modern policing. Sterling just proved that's not true.

These cancellations rarely happen in a vacuum. They usually follow budget scrutiny, public records requests, community pushback, or quiet internal doubts about whether the technology is delivering what the sales pitch promised. Whatever the specific trigger in Sterling, the pattern is the same one we've seen pop up in other towns: once residents and officials start asking hard questions about cost, data sharing, and oversight, the answers aren't always reassuring.

If you live near Sterling or anywhere else, don't assume a camera network stays static — check our map to see what's currently tracking plates in your area, and if your own city is weighing a Flock contract or renewal, our take-action page has tools to help you push for transparency before the cameras go up, not after.