Flock Safety sells automated license plate readers (ALPRs) to more than 5,000 US communities. Every one of those deployments runs on a contract, and every contract answers 4 questions: who approved it, what it costs, whose money paid for it, and when it ends. This page explains how the contracts work. Our tracker shows those 4 answers for the communities we’ve documented.
What a Flock camera contract is
Most Flock Safety contracts are subscriptions: the agency pays per camera per year, and Flock removes the equipment when the contract ends. Some agencies own the hardware: New Bedford runs Flock software on 13 city-owned cameras. Per published cooperative price lists, the standard Falcon license plate reader runs $2,500 to $3,000 per camera per year, plus a one-time installation fee of $250 to $350. Flock raised prices by about $500 per camera per year on January 1, 2024, per a Grafton, WI council memo.
Terms typically run 2 to 5 years. Cameras photograph every passing vehicle and log its plate, make, and other identifying features; by default, Flock retains the data for 30 days. Some contracts include clauses that require the agency to notify Flock before releasing records about the system, which can delay public records requests (documented contract language).
The dollars are small by municipal standards. A 10-camera deployment costs roughly $25,000 to $30,000 a year. That number matters for a reason covered below: in many cities it’s small enough that no elected official ever votes on it.
The 5 ways a Flock contract gets approved
1. A council or commission vote. The standard path for contracts above a city’s spending threshold. These votes appear in meeting minutes with a recorded tally, and sometimes a roll call. Recent examples run in both directions: Berkeley renewed its 52-camera lease 5-4 in May 2026 (Berkeleyside), while Whiteland, Indiana denied installation in a split vote in December 2025 (Daily Journal).
2. The consent agenda. Routine items get batched and approved in a single motion, without discussion, unless a member pulls one out. Marshalltown, Iowa pulled its Flock item off consent, debated it, and approved it on a split vote (Times Republican, February 2026); most consent items are never pulled.
3. A purchase under the bid threshold. Cities set dollar limits below which staff can buy without a vote, commonly $25,000 to $100,000, and up to $500,000 in large cities. The clearest documented case: after Denver’s council unanimously rejected a $666,000 Flock renewal, the mayor’s office signed a $498,500 extension, $1,500 under the $500,000 threshold that would have required council approval (Colorado Newsline, October 23, 2025). San Diego police signed a Flock software deal without the council review the city’s surveillance ordinance contemplates (Axios San Diego, April 29, 2026).
4. A cooperative purchasing contract. Flock sells through government purchasing co-ops including OMNIA Partners, Sourcewell, TIPS-USA, and BuyBoard. The co-op’s competitive process substitutes for a local one, so an agency can sign without running its own bid (OMNIA contract documents).
5. Grant or forfeiture funding. Federal Byrne JAG grants have funded Flock programs directly (BJA award example), and EPIC documented more than 30 local governments using pandemic-era ARPA funds for license plate readers (EPIC). Asset forfeiture funds have paid for systems in cities including Gainesville, Florida (WUFT, June 22, 2026). Grant and forfeiture money usually bypasses the normal budget process, which means less public visibility at approval time.
Our tracker marks each community with the approval path its records show, including a filter for contracts approved without a council vote.
Why the renewal date matters
Because the contract is a subscription, the renewal date is a scheduled public decision. A council that approved a contract, or never got to vote on one, gets a defined moment to decide again.
That’s how most Flock contracts have ended. Austin let its contract expire on June 30, 2025 after a city audit found more than 20% of police ALPR searches lacked proper justification (EFF). San Marcos, Texas deadlocked 3-3 on renewal in December 2025 and the contract lapsed (Austin Chronicle). Denver declined renewal in February 2026 and removed all 110 cameras by March 31 (Colorado Politics). The Institute for Justice counts 82 terminations across 28 states between August 2021 and May 2026, 39 of them in the first 5 months of 2026 (Washington Times, July 2, 2026).
Renewal decisions are made in public meetings with public comment. Our action guides cover how to find the meeting, how to request the contract itself, and how to read one.
Find your community
Start with the national tracker, sorted by soonest expiration. Or browse the states page, which lists all 47 states and DC with a record.
For physical camera locations, see DeFlock, a separate crowdsourced mapping project. For how your community’s police use the system, some agencies publish a Flock transparency portal, aggregated at Eyes on Flock. This site documents the contracts: the approvals, the money, and the dates. The lawsuit tracker follows the court cases that test them. The glossary defines the terms the records use.
Every claim above links to its source. If your city’s contract is missing from our tracker, tell us. Our methodology explains the verification standard.
Not affiliated with Flock Safety, Inc.