Plymouth Chief Cuts Power to Flock Cameras as Contract Dispute Escalates
Plymouth's police chief unplugged Flock cameras after the city's cancellation went unanswered, but if the contract has a fixed term, Flock may still be permitted to draw city power and use public infrastructure.
Plymouth Police Chief Eric Fadden directed staff to disconnect power cords from Flock Safety license-plate cameras after the City Council canceled its contract and the company did not reply for more than a week. The city suspended Plymouth user accounts on Sept. 23 and sent a formal cancellation letter by mail and email.
Flock has faced recent controversies, including the arrest of officers for misusing the system and a mistaken
Key takeaways
- Flock has more than 300,000 cameras installed nationwide, and the network's broad coverage makes it effective at tracking vehicles.
- The system goes beyond reading plates, using AI to identify vehicles by stickers, paint color, make and model.
- Dayton, Minnesota, paused its Flock program and disabled two devices after Flock proceeded with a replacement work order despite being told not to.
- Critics have asked city councils to remove the cameras citing privacy concerns; unplugging reduces Flock's coverage area while costing labor, whereas leaving cameras in place likely costs the company nothing.
- The City Council voted unanimously to end the contract, and Plymouth informed Flock immediately; Fadden said the city heard nothing from Flock Safety Corporate or Legal for more than a week, other than communication with its local representative.
What people think
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Cancellation terms decide leverage
The city's vote to end the Flock contract does not necessarily terminate service at once. A fixed term could leave Flock permitted to use city power and public infrastructure until expiry, which would weaken theft-of-service or criminal claims. Flock should still honor a shutdown request, but the legal footing is less clear than the physical unplugging suggests. One week may also be too short to judge non-response to a mailed letter.
Accountability gap invites penalties
If Flock can ignore cancellation without consequence, the episode becomes evidence that large vendors face little practical penalty for defying local oversight. Proposed responses include theft-of-service charges, fines for unapproved installation and sting operations at disabled units. A counterexample notes some wealthy or high-profile figures do face prosecution, complicating blanket impunity claims. No location was supplied for the alleged reinstallations.
Cameras invite blocking and spoofing
A shower cap can block the lens, while a slide show of car images might inject false plate reads. The second idea matters because an ALPR network that acts on bad data can trigger wrongful stops; the first shows physical access is a weak point. Both suggest the system's coverage depends on unhardened endpoints. The mayor-pullover scenario drew skepticism, but the data-integrity risk remains.
Small-claims suits face harm hurdle
Mass small-claims actions against Flock would require plaintiffs to show concrete harm. A plate merely being recorded may not establish standing, while a wrongful stop would be a stronger basis. Other legal avenues may exist, but individual litigation is a limited check on camera networks. The practical barrier is proving injury from data collection alone.
Local police discretion cuts both ways
Local law enforcement has broad latitude, which can protect or threaten civil liberties. A historical example cites J. Edgar Hoover's FBI, where professionalization coexisted with rights abuses and alleged blackmail of congressional overseers. Where sheriffs or police chiefs are elected, law-and-order campaigns can make camera systems an easy sell to voters who fear crime more than surveillance, even when crime statistics do not support that fear. The presence of cameras outside homes has not yet produced broad civic mobilization.