Contract cancelled

On October 7, 2026, the Avon Town Council voted 4-3 to terminate its contract with Flock Safety for 12 automated license plate reader cameras. Council members cited fears of federal overreach, data breaches, and artificial intelligence. Some cameras will be decommissioned immediately, while a few already paid for must remain until the contract is fully cancelled. The vote followed vandalism and public debate. Council member Kevin Hyatt said, “The AI is scary, the data safety is scary.” Council member Ruth Stanley said she had questions about who can access information. The mayor and mayor pro tem voted to keep the cameras. The town is researching closed surveillance systems to replace Flock.

Monroe, Ohio, City Council voted unanimously on September 22, 2026, to end its contract with Flock Safety and deactivate all 23 license-plate reading cameras. The city approved a two-year contract in 2024 with a reported cost of $149,950. Residents were split, with one resident saying, “I’m here because I’m really sick and tired of seeing those protections eroded by a digital dragnet we never consented to.” Council members described the decision as difficult. Mayor and vice mayor were absent. Voters could potentially bring cameras back, but not on the November ballot.

Hutto City Council voted unanimously on Sept. 17 to cancel the city’s contract with Flock Safety for automatic license plate reader cameras and to remove 10 cameras, citing residents’ concerns about government surveillance, data collection and potential misuse. The cameras had been deactivated in August by Police Chief Jeff Yarbrough, who was awaiting more information about possible system vulnerabilities. The decision also prohibits the use of license-plate reader technology from other companies. The city retains Flock contracts for closed-loop cameras and a video monitoring system not linked to the shared license plate reader system.

Neenah’s Common Council unanimously voted to end the city’s contract with Flock Safety for automated license plate reading cameras. The cameras were already deactivated, and the city will bag them and request removal within 30 days. Police Chief Aaron Olson requested the termination, citing privacy and Fourth Amendment concerns and a lack of trust in Flock’s transparency. The contract allows stopping payments before the fiscal year ends December 31, so taxpayers will cover the remaining $8,500 of the $30,000 annual agreement. The city will wait for state lawmakers to consider Assembly Bill 576 before pursuing replacement technology.

On Tuesday night, the Oconomowoc Common Council voted 5-2 to cancel the city’s contract with Flock Safety, ending six license-plate cameras. Early termination could cost the city $18,000 next year, already in the draft budget. The same night, Waukesha’s Common Council voted not to fund Flock after 2026, dropping a proposed $292,000 line from its 2027-2030 capital plan. Racine’s mayor broke a 7-7 tie to terminate that city’s contract; cameras stay live for 30 days to finish open cases. Oconomowoc’s school district said it will follow the city’s decision on four leased cameras.

The Bastrop City Council voted unanimously to decommission the city’s 12 Flock Safety automated license plate reader cameras and terminate the agreement with Flock Safety. The vote approved Resolution R-2026-134. Council members also approved language requiring that any future ALPR technology come before the council for approval. Mayor Pro Tem John Kirkland proposed the change. Mayor Ishmael Harris previously cited privacy concerns and uncertainty about data access. The vote follows a decision last week to consider terminating the contract. The city’s contract had been set to renew in July 2027.

Englewood City Council voted unanimously, 6-0, to terminate the city’s contract with Flock for automatic license plate reader cameras. City Attorney Tamara Niles said the city would have to pay a $27,500 annual service fee plus a $6,000 early camera removal fee, though police were trying to negotiate lower fees. Flock would remove the cameras, but no removal timeframe is in the contract. Mayor Othoniel Sierra cited concerns about how Flock shares data. A proposed replacement contract with Axon failed on a 3-3 vote.

On September 8, 2026, the Lebanon, Ohio, city council voted to immediately shut off and cover its 20 Flock Safety automated license plate readers. The vote followed Flock Safety’s failure to respond to a letter containing 54 questions about data retention and access within three weeks. Mayor Mark Messer said he lost confidence in the company after it did not reply. The council also gave city officials seven business days to determine whether the city can exit its contract without paying $60,000 for the final year. Flock Safety did not respond to a request for comment.

On Sept. 8, Manvel City Council voted unanimously to cancel its four-year contract with Flock Safety and removed funding for the contract in the fiscal 2026-27 budget. All 16 of the city’s Flock cameras were covered within 48 hours, and the police department shut off external agency access to the camera feed. Mayor Dan Davis said, “It’s time to deflock Manvel.” Council members and residents voiced privacy concerns and distrust of private surveillance networks.

On September 3, 2026, the Leander City Council instructed staff to suspend use of the police department’s 14 Flock license-plate cameras and to discontinue funding its Flock contract. The decision followed a public hearing lasting over an hour in which dozens of residents raised privacy and security concerns. The cameras had been installed in summer 2025 and the department said they helped solve crimes such as shootings and robberies. The city had applied for a $236,000 federal grant, of which $50,000 was intended for cameras.

In September, the Newburgh City Council is expected to terminate its contract with Flock Safety for automated license plate recognition technology. Council members and residents expressed concern that data could be shared with federal agencies. A resolution states the technology “is no longer consistent with the city’s policy priorities regarding privacy, civil liberties, public accountability and community trust.” If approved, the city would stop using the system through the remainder of the year. City attorney Michele Kelson said steps are needed to protect existing data. Residents of Pleasant Valley have also raised concerns about the system.

Fort Wayne Police Chief Paul Smith announced that the department canceled its subscription with Flock Safety, taking the license plate reader system offline. City Council had voted against renewing the contract for 36 cameras. The federal government allowed the grant that funded the program to close early without penalty. FWPD-controlled data stored in the Flock system was deleted, and Flock began removing cameras from locations throughout Fort Wayne.

On August 27 the Milford Board of Aldermen voted, after a meeting lasting more than four hours, to pause the use of most of the city’s speed, red-light and Flock license plate reader cameras. The mayor confirmed all speed cameras were turned off. Most Flock readers were disabled, including units on Gulf Street, Woodruff Avenue, Woodmont Avenue, Broad Street, Anderson Avenue, Merwin Avenue and the Boston Post Road; 14 remain active at the city’s borders, including I-95 and Route 15. The board also created a Public Safety and Technology Review Committee to review camera systems, contracts and vendors twice a year. The police union filed with the state labor department seeking a cease-and-desist and requested a hearing for September 8. Governor Lamont had earlier asked towns to pause new camera installations pending a POST Council review.

The Asheville City Council voted 5-2 on August 25, 2026, to terminate the city’s contract with Flock Safety, ending the operation of 11 Flock automatic license plate readers. The contract had been in place since 2025 and was originally set to run through 2027. The resolution stated that Asheville has not used facial recognition technology and has not shared Flock data with facial recognition databases. The city manager will review the contract, and the police department will engage with an American Civil Liberties Union policy reviewer. Council members S. Anntanette Mosley and Sheneika Smith voted against the resolution.

On August 25, 2026, Fort Wayne City Council voted unanimously to deny funding for a $120,250 contract with Flock Group Inc. that would have allowed the police to continue using 36 license plate reader cameras. The vote followed a 5-4 initial rejection in May and public concerns about privacy, data retention, and civil liberties. Councilwoman Michelle Chambers changed her vote, saying she was not sufficiently confident in the company’s data protections. Councilman Russ Jehl said civil liberties are not easily regained once lost. The police department said it will respect the decision.

On Aug. 25, 2026, Pflugerville City Council voted unanimously not to renew a lease with Flock Safety for automated license plate readers that would have cost $87,500 per year. City Manager James Hartshorn directed staff to cover the cameras and turn off the system after an issue allowed nonpartner law enforcement agencies to access city data. A resident’s open-records review showed outside agencies searched Pflugerville camera data nearly 1.6 million times. Police Chief Willie Richards said he lacked clarity on data protection and could not recommend renewal.

The Auburn City Council voted unanimously on Aug. 21, 2026, to end a four-year, $120,000 contract with Flock Safety for automated license plate readers posted around the city. Mayor Jimmy Giannettino said the city ‘messed up’ because it never voted to accept a $122,500 state grant that funded the contract. The council also voted to apply for a new LETECH grant, with police chief Matthew Androsko saying the money would go toward replacing drones and radios.

On August 18, 2026, the Oxford City Council voted 6-1 to terminate its contract with Flock Safety for automated license plate reader cameras. The council amended a resolution to change the wording from “maintain” to “terminate.” The city had already paid $48,000 for the year, with the contract ending in February 2027. Councilors cited privacy concerns and potential misuse of data. Councilor Bill Snavely said he worried other agencies might misuse collected data, and Mayor Mike Smith said he did not trust the company.

On August 18, 2026, the Stow Police Department announced it had cut ties with Flock Safety and removed its remaining license plate camera. The decision followed an internal affairs investigation concluding that Officer Jason Rogers used the Flock database and state systems to access a person’s personal information without a legitimate law enforcement reason on multiple occasions. Rogers was placed on unpaid leave and faces termination. The department filed a criminal complaint against him and forwarded findings to the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission. Stow also removed two other Flock cameras earlier in 2026 after evaluating their effectiveness.

On Aug. 13, 2026, the Washington cities of Stanwood and Sedro-Woolley settled a public records case for $80,000, split $40,000 each, with Jose Rodriguez, an Oregon resident who had requested Flock camera images from Stanwood in April 2025 and Sedro-Woolley in May 2025. The cities had sought a declaratory judgment that the images were not public records; on November 6, 2025, Skagit County Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Neidzwski ruled they were. After a new state law exempting plate reader footage took effect in March 2026, the cities dropped their appeal, and on July 16 the judge ruled they had wrongfully withheld the records. Cascadia Daily News reported that Rodriguez filed 53 requests to Washington governments between September 2024 and October 2025, that at least 15 jurisdictions paid settlements of $5,000 to $40,000 each, totalling more than $300,000, and that at least 13 recipients cancelled Flock contracts or deactivated cameras. Everett separately approved a $25,000 settlement in June 2026 over a Flock records request.

The Narragansett Town Council voted 5-0 on August 3, 2026, to cancel the town’s Flock Safety license-plate camera contract effective immediately. The town solicitor had not completed a review of the cancellation penalty at the time of the vote; Council President Alexander Menzies estimated the town may lose roughly $12,600 for the final contract year, to be paid from forfeiture funds. The three remaining cameras on Boston Road, Point Judith Road, Woodruff Avenue, and near the Dillon Rotary are to be removed from service. The police chief had asked the council to delay the vote, and a civil liberties group urged removal.

In August 2026, the Florida Department of Transportation revoked all existing approvals for automated license-plate-recognition systems installed by local law-enforcement agencies in state rights-of-way and stopped approving new requests. Agencies were given 30 days to remove the cameras, after which FDOT said it would remove any that remained. The department cited “concerning reports of misuse, data privacy concerns, and surveillance schemes” and “the recent exponential increase in deployments along our roadways.” Governor Ron DeSantis had said that without oversight the cameras threaten privacy. The order applies only to the State Highway System. WUFT reported on August 31, 2026 that all of Putnam County’s Flock cameras were being discontinued. No removal cost or refund figure was reported.

In August 2026, the Gardner City Council voted not to renew a contract with Flock Safety for automated license plate readers. The Gardner Police Department discontinued use of all Flock cameras and notified the provider that the contract has been canceled. The city owned one Flock camera. Flock Safety announced plans to add more oversight to its system, retain some data for shorter periods, and more closely track how agencies use the platform.

In August 2026 the Boston Globe reported that Littleton, Massachusetts officials had voted in May to shut down six Flock cameras on public roads, and that police later discovered Flock had restored power to the cameras without notifying the town. The department ordered the cameras remotely powered down and confirmed a Flock work order was in place to remove them from utility poles as soon as possible. Techdirt described it as the second time Flock had activated a system a town had voted to shut down. Techdirt also reported that an audit by the South Carolina Secretary of Transportation found more than 200 unpermitted Flock cameras operating on public roads. The Globe reported that Cambridge, Massachusetts terminated its Flock contract after two cameras were installed without notification following an earlier removal. No public cost figures were reported.

The Stoughton City Council voted unanimously on July 28, 2026 to terminate its contract with Flock Safety, ending use of five surveillance cameras after months of community opposition. The council ordered bags placed over the cameras and asked that all collected data be permanently deleted. The two-year contract total was $25,000, of which the city will still pay the remaining $12,500. The live feed camera pointed at the Cascade Falls apartment complex, which residents criticized as targeting a community of color.

The Minneapolis City Council deadlocked 6-6 on a proposal to contract with Skydio Inc. for a ‘drones as first responders’ program. The program failed to advance, meaning the city will not move forward with Skydio as the vendor. Residents and activists raised concerns about privacy and Skydio’s ties to the Israeli military. Council Member Jamal Osman said he supported the program but couldn’t support Skydio and urged officials to return with a different vendor.

In mid-July, Easthampton, Massachusetts, removed its Flock license plate reader cameras. The City Council had voted to cut funding after privacy concerns, including a report that Texas police searched Easthampton’s data for a woman who had an abortion. Police Chief Chad Alexander said the cameras were removed as of mid-July.

The Los Angeles Police Department’s Office of Inspector General audited two months of Flock Safety stolen-vehicle hot-list alerts from August and September 2025. Of 498 alerts, 161 were false positives: vehicles the system flagged as stolen were not stolen. The remaining 337 alerts led to recovered vehicles, about one in three alerts wrong. The audit attributed the errors to hot-list data, not plate reads: recovered vehicles not cleared from lists, outdated theft reports and uncorrected data-entry mistakes. The OIG recommended suspending new ALPR camera deployments and contracts pending public input and a broader reassessment of vendors and data practices. LAPD’s three-year 2023 agreement for 138 pole-mounted cameras expired July 11, 2026 and was not renewed, with the department citing privacy and data-ownership concerns. At the July 15 Police Commission meeting, officials said they were negotiating a new contract giving the city ownership of all plate data.

An audit released July 11, 2026 by the LAPD Office of the Inspector General found that during a two-month review period (August 1 to September 30, 2025) officers acknowledged 161 automated license-plate-reader ‘hot list’ alerts as accurate stolen-vehicle matches that were in fact wrong, generally because outdated data was never cleared after a vehicle was recovered. LAPD policy requires verification before stopping, but the audit found this frequently did not happen, and false hits triggered high-risk stops. Following the audit, LAPD let its data-sharing contract with Flock Safety expire.

On July 6 the Windsor Town Council voted 5-4 to keep the town’s 16 Flock Safety license plate reader cameras off and to end its contract. The council had voted 8-1 in February to pause the cameras while it tried to renegotiate contract language on resident data ahead of a May renewal. A resident’s public records request showed Windsor data was searched 590,000 times over nine weeks. If the contract is terminated early, the town will pay around $8,000. The cameras are to be taken down by the fall.

The City of Fort Collins confirmed the removal of all 15 of its Flock Safety automated license plate reader cameras. The move ended the city’s contract with Flock after a February city council work session raised concerns about the company’s security record and the possibility that federal immigration authorities could access the data. District 5 Councilmember Amy Hoeven said the decision came down to trust in Flock as a company. The city is drafting a new surveillance policy.

In July, Killingworth became the second Connecticut town to end its Flock Safety contract. The town, which has no police department and relies on a resident state trooper, installed four cameras along Route 81 the previous year. The first selectman told CT Insider the cameras had not added any value to local policing. Officials said the town was negotiating the end of the contract for financial reasons while also taking resident privacy concerns into account. The town had budgeted $14,600 for licensing the four cameras in the current fiscal year. Officials said the town will have to pay a fee to exit the contract but did not yet know the amount. The cameras were expected to be removed the same month.

On June 9, 2026, the Edmonds City Council unanimously voted to cancel the city’s contract with Flock Safety for automated license plate readers. The mayor had attempted to cancel the contract on May 26 without council approval, a procedural error. The council cited a new state law imposing stricter record retention and audit requirements, liability concerns, and reports of federal agency access to ALPR networks. The contract originally approved in October 2024 for 19 cameras was funded by a $131,880 grant from the Washington Auto Theft Prevention Authority. Termination had no financial impact on the city. Edmonds is the third Snohomish County city to cancel its Flock contract.

On June 8, 2026, the Columbia Heights City Council voted unanimously to terminate its contract with Flock Safety. The city will pay out the final year’s $49,000 without receiving service. The contract, signed in May 2024, covered seven fixed cameras and five flex cameras. The city cited privacy concerns and the possibility that automated license plate reader data could be accessed by immigration enforcement or other outside groups. The cameras have been removed or covered with bags.

On April 22, 2026, the Oshkosh Common Council voted 7-0 to rescind its approval of a Flock Safety camera contract, less than 24 hours after approving it. Police Chief Dean Smith said Flock misrepresented that its system does not create heat maps of vehicle movement, which he visually confirmed it does. The council cited ‘additional information’ inconsistent with Flock’s statements and rejected the agreement. The renewal was for 25 cameras at $163,500 over two years. Several council members apologized for their earlier votes.

On March 31, 2026 the Denver City Council voted 7-6 to approve a one-year, $150,000 contract with Axon for 50 fixed license plate reader cameras, hours after Flock Safety finished removing its more than 100 cameras from city streets. The council president broke a 6-6 tie. Denver had ended its Flock contract after public backlash over privacy and revelations that the company could share data with federal immigration authorities. Opponents on the council argued the vote came before the city’s surveillance task force had written guardrails. Axon had severed its API integration with Flock on July 24, 2025. In July 2026 Douglas County approved a nearly $22.8 million Axon package replacing its 50 Flock cameras with 100 Axon Outpost cameras plus drones.

The Ithaca Common Council voted unanimously to end the city’s contract with Flock Safety, stopping the Ithaca Police Department’s use of the company’s AI-powered license plate cameras. The $70,000 contract was funded entirely by a state grant meant to combat gun violence. Council members and activists cited distrust of Flock, the volume of data collected, and concerns that data could be used in federal immigration enforcement. The city is unlikely to recoup the grant funds. The vote came just over two years after the initial contract was approved.

Coralville City Council voted 3-1 on February 24, 2026 to terminate the city’s contract with Flock Safety for two Automated License Plate Readers and rescind its policy on their use. The contract, valued at $36,000 over two years, had been approved as part of the fiscal year 2026 budget. The termination follows months of public opposition and an inquiry from the Iowa Attorney General’s Office regarding policy compliance with immigration enforcement laws. City Administrator Kelly Hayworth said the readers will be removed within days.

In February 2026, the Lynnwood City Council voted unanimously to cancel its contract with Flock Safety for license plate reader cameras. The cameras, disabled since October, had been the subject of a University of Washington report revealing unauthorized access by out-of-state and federal agencies, including U.S. Border Patrol. Council member Isabel Mata noted that more than 50 people testified in person against the system. The city originally approved the contract in January 2025.

On January 13, 2026, the Santa Cruz City Council voted 6–1 to terminate the city’s contract with Flock Safety, ending use of the company’s automated license plate readers. The termination takes effect after a 30-day notice, possibly as early as February 12. Councilmember Sonja Brunner voted against. The motion followed data breaches, community pushback, and a recommendation from three councilmembers. It also directed staff to explore future installation of similar technology with stronger privacy safeguards.

The Bend City Council voted to end a pilot program with Flock Safety license-plate reading cameras five months early, citing concerns about data security. The cameras were installed in spring 2025 along Highway 97. Police said the cameras helped recover three stolen vehicles and track a stabbing suspect and a sex offender. Councilor Mike Riley said the contract lacked guarantees about data use and sharing with other governments, especially given Oregon’s sanctuary state status. The city will pay approximately $10,000 for the remainder of the contract even though the cameras are being turned off.

Cambridge terminated its contract with Flock Safety on December 10, 2025. The City Council had first approved buying automated license plate readers in February; Flock installed 16 cameras in September. On October 20, the council voted unanimously to suspend police use of the cameras, citing concern that data sharing with federal agencies would violate the city’s sanctuary ordinance. The 16 cameras were deactivated and removed in late October. The city then said two additional cameras had been installed by Flock technicians in late November without the city’s awareness, during the pause. City officials described the episode as a breach of trust and ended the contract.

On the evening of December 5, 2025, the Eugene Police Department ended its contract with Flock Safety effective immediately, citing vulnerabilities and limitations affecting operational needs, data security requirements and community expectations. Springfield police announced about an hour later that their cameras would be covered pending removal; Springfield had said in September it would not turn on its 25 cameras, budgeted at $77,000 per year and funded by a $93,000 Oregon Criminal Justice Commission grant, until a community discussion took place. Eugene’s chief later confirmed a Flock camera had been turned on after the city ordered the cameras shut down in October. Eugene’s $342,000 two-year contract was funded by a state grant. City staff removed 55 of Eugene’s 57 cameras by December 19.

On December 4, 2025, the Mountlake Terrace City Council voted unanimously to cancel its two-year contract with Flock Safety, citing community division and public records concerns. The city will still pay $27,000 for the first year of the contract, which was never installed. Mayor Pro Tem Bryan Wahl said the technology “has been weaponized against cities and their residents.” The city appears to be the first in Washington state to fully cancel a Flock contract, though other cities have paused or suspended their programs.

On October 27, 2025, the Hillsborough Board of Commissioners unanimously voted to cancel a two-year, $81,500 contract with Flock Safety for 10 surveillance cameras. The board cited privacy concerns after discovering fine-print provisions allowing Flock to share collected data with third parties under a ‘good faith belief’ that it is necessary. The cameras had been installed the previous month. Commissioner Matt Hughes said the contract ‘allows Flock to override our judgment for theirs.’

On September 9, 2025 the Sedona City Council voted unanimously to cancel its contract for automated license-plate readers and remove them. South Tucson voted on February 17, 2026 to end its agreement. Staunton, Virginia announced it would cancel its Flock contract. KOMO reported that Mountlake Terrace, Washington ended a $54,000 agreement but remained responsible for the first year’s payment of $27,000 and was negotiating the balance, that Lynnwood terminated a $171,000 contract, and that cities ending grant-funded agreements early could be required to return funds to the grantor. NPR reported that privacy concerns and federal immigration access to local data were driving the cancellations.

On August 26, 2025, Evanston ordered Flock Safety to deactivate its 19 license plate reader cameras and issued a 30-day termination notice, effective September 26, after an Illinois Secretary of State audit found Flock had let U.S. Customs and Border Protection access Illinois camera data in violation of state law. Flock challenged the termination. In September the company reinstalled stationary cameras without city authorization, and the city covered the cameras pending removal. The five-year contract, approved January 8, 2024, at $48,500 per year, runs to January 29, 2029; the city paid the first two years and would owe $145,500 for the remaining three if the contract is upheld. As of March 2026 no lawsuit had been filed, the city had not paid its 2026 fee, and the final two cameras were removed after a RoundTable inquiry.

On April 8, 2025, the Scarsdale Village Board approved a $2.1 million contract with Flock Safety for automated license plate readers, live-view surveillance cameras and drone-as-first-responder technology, without public notice. Communications obtained by Drop Site News showed village contact with Flock dating to January 15, 2025. Residents began appearing at the April 22 board meeting, and a petition signed by 449 residents urged the board to pause the project and hold public forums. The village was notified in early July that its grant application for the project had been denied. On August 4 the police chief submitted a memo recommending against proceeding given the lack of federal funding, and the village cancelled the contract on August 6.

On May 5, 2025, the Denver City Council voted down a two-year, $666,000 contract extension with Flock Safety. All council members present voted no, citing concern the cameras could be used for federal immigration enforcement. Mayor Mike Johnston’s office had asked the council to reject the proposal. The city said it would keep the camera system operating while it created a task force. The system photographed about 2 million license plates per month.

Baton Rouge Police Chief Thomas Morse Jr. is ending a $400,000 annual contract with gunshot detection company ShotSpotter, according to a Feb. 10, 2025 report. The police department is cutting nearly $9 million from its budget. The technology, in use since 2007, covered six of the city’s 80 square miles. In December, the system detected 42% of 470 reported gunshots, according to data from the district attorney’s office. Morse said he was not sure the technology was responsible for a single arrest since he became chief.

Chicago became the largest American city to drop ShotSpotter when its contract expired on September 23, 2024, after six years and roughly $49 million in spending. Mayor Brandon Johnson allowed the contract to lapse, following studies showing the system rarely produced evidence of gun crime, sent officers on tens of thousands of dead-end runs, and disproportionately surveilled Black and Latino neighborhoods. The city has not announced a replacement.

Chicago’s contract with SoundThinking for the ShotSpotter gunshot-detection network ended September 22, 2024, followed by a two-month transition period. The city entered a $33 million, three-year contract in 2018; WTTW reported the city paid more than $53 million since 2018. In February 2024 Mayor Brandon Johnson signed a nine-month extension reported by the Sun-Times at $8.6 million, more than the previous year’s cost. A 2021 Office of Inspector General review of 50,176 alerts from January 2020 to May 2021 found 9.1 percent produced evidence of a gun-related crime. The City Council voted 34-14 in May to require a council vote before removal from any ward, and later voted 33-14 to rebuke Johnson’s decision; the mayor vowed a veto.

The Metro Nashville Police Department entered a $175,000 sole source contract with Fusus on September 15, 2022, below the $250,000 threshold requiring council approval. Resolution RS2023-2380, aimed at amending the contract to $350,000 and extending it 12 months, was deferred indefinitely in subcommittees before the August 15, 2023 council meeting. The original contract expired on September 14, 2023. The report notes it is unclear what will happen to existing Fusus technology now that the contract has lapsed.

The City of New Orleans canceled a $6 million contract with Swedish firm Hexagon for a cloud-based 911 records system. Signed in early 2021 for OnCall Records, the project aimed to combine 20 police records systems. The city cited technical delays, no workable data access plan, and inability to generate compliant reports. The system might have increased time to write police reports. The city is evaluating alternative systems.

The Seattle Police Department cancelled its contract with Truleo, a firm that uses artificial intelligence to analyze body-camera video, on Feb. 7, 2023. The department had renewed the two-year, $400,000 contract on Jan. 15 after a trial showed promise. Chief Operating Officer Brian Maxey cancelled it after privacy concerns and criticism from the police union. The department had spent $220,500 of public funds on the contract, which had not been recouped as of March. The cancellation is under scrutiny following a recording of a police union official making comments about a woman killed by an officer.

In February 2023, the City of South Tucson, Arizona canceled its contract with Flock Safety and removed its automated license plate reader cameras. The decision came after months of debate over privacy and public safety. The city is one of 109 communities listed in the DeFlock The USA cancellation tracker that have canceled Flock contracts or banned ALPRs.

On December 22, 2021, New Hanover County Chief Financial Officer Lisa Wurtzbacher told commissioners that the sole-source contract with Flock Safety for license plate recognition cameras would not proceed. The county had approved the award on December 6, but later learned that Axon had a minority investment in Flock and that other vendors could integrate with Axon’s evidence.com. Wurtzbacher said the county would ‘change direction with this sole source contract and, instead, pursue bidding this service out.’ The contract was never signed.

Baltimore’s Board of Estimates voted unanimously Wednesday to cancel the city’s contract for aerial surveillance planes operated by Persistent Surveillance Systems. The planes had flown their final Baltimore flight on Oct. 31, 2020. Lisa Walden, a city attorney representing the Baltimore Police Department, said allowing the contract to continue would be ‘less transparent’ and that the city is working to delete 85% of collected data, retaining 15% for ongoing investigations. The cancellation came as the city faced an ACLU lawsuit over the program. Mayor Brandon Scott said preliminary reviews showed no significant difference between crimes investigated with the use of the planes and those without.

The American Civil Liberties Union and partners sued Clearview AI in Cook County on May 28, 2020, alleging the facial recognition firm violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act. The suit aims to protect survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse. Chicago police confirmed the same day that the department no longer uses Clearview’s software. CPD spokesman Howard Ludwig said Clearview terminated the $49,875 contract on May 1 and issued a prorated refund. The department’s contract with another facial recognition firm remains intact.

The Raleigh Police Department halted its use of Clearview AI facial recognition software, six months after paying $2,500 for a one-year subscription. The department said it stopped after Clearview failed to respond satisfactorily to questions. The department’s policy restricts facial recognition to public-domain images, but Clearview scrapes social media. The ACLU said the software raises privacy concerns and disputed its accuracy claims. The department said it is reviewing its policies and does not intend to resume use.

The Chicago Police Department decommissioned its ‘party to violence’ risk-model program — the Strategic Subject List and its successor, the Crime and Victimization Risk Model — on November 1, 2019, after telling the Office of Inspector General in August 2019 it intended to do so. On January 23, 2020 the OIG published an advisory reporting that CPD had received $3.8 million in federal grants and spent ten years developing the sequential models, which assigned scores predicting the likelihood a person would be the victim or offender in a shooting. The advisory’s areas of concern included the unreliability of risk scores and tiers, improperly trained sworn personnel, a lack of controls on internal and external access, and interventions that may have attached negative consequences to arrests that never produced convictions. The algorithm was built by the Illinois Institute of Technology under a Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance grant. The databases held data on more than 300,000 people.

On March 8, 2019 the LAPD Office of the Inspector General released an audit of the department’s data-driven policing programs — PredPol, Operation LASER and the ELUCD survey platform — and presented it to the Police Commission on March 12. The audit found significant inconsistencies in how individuals were selected and retained in LASER’s chronic-offender program, found the programs lacked oversight and often strayed from stated goals, and concluded there was insufficient data to determine whether PredPol reduced crime; the department had used PredPol for roughly eight years. LAPD suspended its Chronic Offender program and database in August 2018 without announcing it. A memo dated April 15, 2020 said the department would discontinue PredPol immediately, citing the pandemic-driven freeze on new contracts.

Montgomery County, Virginia, suspended its police body camera program in November 2017 after three years of technical failures. Chief Deputy Sheriff Brad St. Clair said the cameras misidentified footage, recorded from accidental button presses, and interfered with in-car cameras. The department spent $33,000 on the cameras and is discussing reimbursement with vendor L3 Mobile Vision.

On June 29, 2016, a Newark police detective emailed MVC’s chair to say the city was suspending its contract with MVC because the firm’s ‘obligations to the Newark Police Division have not been met.’ Newark had paid MVC $25,000 before the contract was severed. Newark police said the city is partnering with Panasonic for a pilot body camera program. The suspension followed failures by MVC to host training sessions and provide working cameras.