Flock ‘Objects to Our Removing Their Equipment’: Emails Reveal Why a Town Put Bags Over Its Flock Cameras

Verona, Wisconsin thought ending a surveillance contract would be simple: vote no, cameras come down. It wasn't. City emails obtained by 404 Media through a public records request show weeks of back-and-forth after the city council decided to stop using Flock's three automated license plate readers. Flock told city employees not to remove the equipment themselves, and a company representative admitted uncertainty about whether the cameras could even be shut off remotely.

With no clear answer and no cameras coming down, Verona improvised. City workers covered the three units in black plastic trash bags, a low-tech fix for a problem the vendor wouldn't solve. It's part of a pattern 404 Media has documented in other cities that voted to cut ties with Flock and then found themselves stuck waiting, unsure if they had the legal standing to physically pull the hardware or disable its recording on their own.

The emails also show a Flock work order that scheduled maintenance on the Verona cameras rather than removal, which is not exactly the fix a city council expecting deactivation would want. Mayor Luke Diaz told the Wisconsin Examiner back in February that repeated requests to Flock went nowhere. "They weren't removing them," he said, adding that covering the cameras felt like the safest option available to stop them from "spying on people." He said he was certain the units kept working even after the contract had technically ended.

A Flock spokesperson gave 404 Media an explanation for the delay: Verona chose not to renew its contract instead of canceling outright mid-term, which the company says accounts for the gap between the city's expectations and what actually happened. Whatever the technical distinction, the emails make clear that city officials wanted the cameras gone fast, and that Flock's own process didn't move at the pace the town wanted, or needed.