It’s a massive shift in how local governments are handling public surveillance. Across the United States, cities and counties are pulling the plug on Flock Safety, the company behind those ubiquitous automated license plate recognition cameras. This wave of cancellations comes after officials discovered that their own internal security policies were essentially powerless against a massive, interconnected data web.
According to Mediaite, the latest move comes from Tempe, Arizona, which announced on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, that it had turned off its Flock cameras and would not renew its contract. This decision highlights a growing national anxiety over privacy and constitutional rights. While Tempe officials noted that they found no misuse of their own system, they acknowledged that the risks associated with the technology are simply too high.
Tempe Mayor Corey Woods put it plainly, saying, “These cameras have helped our police officers do their jobs, and we don’t discount that. But the risk of misuse is too great. We have to be able to provide public safety in a way that maintains the trust of our community. For Tempe, that means taking these cameras down.”
Tempe is currently waiting for Flock to remove all its equipment
The city confirmed that all previously collected data will be automatically deleted after 30 days, provided it isn’t part of an active investigation. For now, the cameras in Tempe are dead, and the city has no plans to replace the system with another vendor.
Tempe isn’t alone in this scenario. Cave Creek, Arizona, also announced on Wednesday that it was terminating its agreement with Flock immediately. The town cited “careful consideration of resident concerns, policy limitations, and recent events” as the primary drivers…