Residents press Stoughton council to cancel Flock Safety contract as police defend ALPR use

Dozens of residents urged the Stoughton City Council on June 23 to terminate the city’s recently executed contract with Flock Safety, the vendor behind automated license-plate reader (ALPR) cameras that the city installed in May.

“Before we create a surveillance system that records the movements of thousands of law-abiding residents, we should ask a simple question: What problem are we solving that justifies it?” said Lori Fory Herkus, a Stoughton resident, during public comment. She and many other speakers cited documented cases of misuse elsewhere and urged council members to cancel the contract and remove the cameras.

Residents said they learned about the installations only after cameras appeared in neighborhoods and asked who signed the contract, why the public was not notified, and what happens to data collected. Christian, another resident, told the council that the city’s treasurer’s report includes a payment of $12,500 to Flock Group on May 28, 2026, and asked council members to account for that decision.

Police officials addressed those concerns in a three-part presentation led by Chief Brandon Hill and Detective Sergeant Cole Sergeant. “We do have a contract with Flock. That contract was signed last December. The cameras were put in about 3 or 4 weeks ago,” Chief Hill said. Sergeant Cole described the ALPR cameras as devices that capture vehicle images and license plates, not faces, and said the department stores search results on Flock’s platform for 30 days before deletion.

The department also outlined operational rules: officers must supply a unique case number, an offense type and a written reason to run a search; users receive training on the vendor’s platform; and the department conducts monthly audits of 10% of searches. “We require a case number,” Sergeant Cole said. “The user must also document in their report that they used Flock, why they used Flock, as well as what they searched.”

Police officials described investigative successes they attribute to the system, including locating a missing 15-year-old and assisting in arrests tied to organized retail theft. They said the city owns the ALPR data and that Flock stores it on Amazon Web Services (AWS) under a 30-day retention policy.

Several alderpersons and online commenters pressed for stronger guarantees about third-party access and asked whether Flock or federal agencies can obtain data without city permission. City Attorney Manthy said the contract allows the city to control access but also permits Flock to use customer data to support and improve its products; he described that language as broad.

Council members proposed additional review steps rather than an immediate vote. They directed staff to post the contract and the department’s ALPR policy on the city website, and several alderpersons asked the Public Safety Commission to pursue an independent security and ethics audit and to evaluate alternative vendors and exit costs before the council takes further action.

The council did not take formal action to terminate the contract at the meeting, citing notice and agenda limitations. Mayor and alder comments emphasized the desire for more public information and for staff to return with committee-level findings and potential paths to modify or end the agreement.

What’s next: council members said they will collect additional materials, hold committee review and post policy and contract documents online. No date was set for a final council decision on the Flock contract.