A Flock camera in Oshkosh. March 31, 2026. PC: Fox 11 Online
WINNEBAGO COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The city of Menasha will no longer fund Flock cameras after a 7 to 1 vote. Tom Marshall was the only opposed. Tuesday’s decision comes on the recommendation of Police Chief Matthew Albrecht.
“The actions that Flock has taken with other municipalities has greatly diminished my trust in the company and I cannot stand in front of our community and recommend that company as the ALPR vendor,” said Albrecht.
Neenah’s Police Chief Aaron Olson also made a recommendation to terminate its contract.
The city’s Public Services and Safety Committee unanimously agreed to stop funding its cameras too. Neenah’s city council will give the final say next week.
“I said we are done with Flock from the police department’s perspective but it’s not my call to end the contract. That has a process and we’re in that process right now,” said Olson.
Why did they make the recommendations? Both chiefs cited information from the city of Sheboygan. A resolution in Sheboygan says that flock safety offered to sell the city’s Department of Public Works anonymized data for traffic volume, vehicle types, and speed data. The resolution also says that violates Flock’s Master Services Agreement.
Tuesday’s decisions come on the heels of numerous communities across Wisconsin announcing they’re reconsidering their Flock contracts.
Within the past week, Fond du Lac and Waupaca Counties announced they’ve suspended use of the cameras. Both citing concern about data from active investigations being shared with the public via open records requests in other states.
On Thursday, Winnebago County announced it was also suspending its contract. It said in a statement:
In light of this recently discovered information, the Sheriff’s Office is conducting an internal review of any investigations that may have been affected.
In response, a Flock statement reads:
Online databases featuring data about Flock searches are in no way affiliated with Flock and Flock did not release any data to them. Data on these websites was obtained through public records requests filed in other states.
Customers own and control their data and Flock does not sell it.
Last year, Flock updated the Network Audit log, which shows searches by other law enforcement agencies that an agency is sharing data with, to protect officer safety and active investigations. We identified a pattern of people using publicly released audit data to identify undercover officers by name – publishing their contact information alongside details of active investigations. Nearly 200 law enforcement leaders raised this concern directly with our leadership, and we acted on it.
Here’s what changed and what didn’t: the Network Audit log no longer includes officer names, specific plates searched, vehicle signatures, or open-text search reasons. It still shows the searching agency, date, offense type, and a unique search identifier. All omitted information is preserved in full with the originating agency and remains available to authorized oversight bodies – nothing is deleted.
Both Albrecht and Olson specified they believe the license plate reading technology is critical for their departments. They said the issues that led to the recommendations to terminate were with Flock alone.
Well, I cannot say I trust the company anymore. The technology has been a great help for law enforcement. We’ve solved multiple cases. They work well for locating missing people, locating wanted criminals. I think if used correctly with the proper safeguards, ALPR technology can still be a benefit to law enforcement,” said Albrecht.
Flock has been invaluable for the police department. We’ve solved more crimes than we would have without it. We’ve already shut off our Flock cameras so they’re not even being used right now, as of Friday,” said Olson.
Chief Olson said Neenah is waiting for federal and state legislators to set clear guidelines before he looks for a new vendor. Chief Albrecht said Menasha’s next step hasn’t been decided yet but he’s also waiting for legislation to become clearer.
Several people spoke at each meeting Tuesday to request the city not use license plate reading technology from any company.
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