Who has left Flock in Wisconsin
Since November 2025, 42 Wisconsin police agencies and local governments have ended, or decided to end, their use of Flock license plate cameras. Nearly half of those decisions came in September 2026, and police chiefs and sheriffs made many of them. Another 16 have switched their cameras off without a final decision on the contract.
- 31
- have ended or are ending Flock and aren’t looking for a replacement
- 11
- have ended or are ending Flock and are moving to another company
- 16
- have switched their cameras off, with no final decision yet
- 21
- still use Flock while residents, officials, or a lawsuit push back
These lists come from Flock in Wisconsin: who left, who is switching, who is staying (PDF, 11 pages), compiled October 12, 2026, and updated on this page since. It has a statewide map and links a news report or official statement for every entry. All dates are 2026 unless noted. The Wausau Pilot & Review also keeps The Watch Ledger, which tracks Flock cameras across Wisconsin and has search logs you can check your own plate against.
Ended Flock, no replacement sought
The agency or its governing body has ended the contract, let it lapse, or voted not to fund it, and isn’t looking for another plate-reader company.
| When | Who | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 10, 2025 | Verona | The Common Council voted not to renew after an audit showed 974 federal searches in one month. The contract lapsed in December, and the three cameras came down in early 2026. |
| April | Sturgeon Bay | The Common Council voted to end the contract after two years. Police said on April 21 the cameras were no longer in use. |
| May 4 | Monona | The police chief told the City Council he had stopped using Flock, and the contract wasn’t renewed. |
| June 30 | Ashland | The police chief didn’t renew the one-year contract and had the cameras removed, citing downtime, slow service, and community concerns. |
| July 15 | Appleton | The Common Council voted unanimously to terminate. In May the mayor had said that “concerns about the integrity of Flock’s underlying system have eroded our trust.” |
| July 21 | Douglas County Sheriff | The sheriff ended a 60-day trial about two weeks early, and the county won’t pursue a contract. |
| July 28 | Stoughton | The City Council voted unanimously to terminate early and remove five cameras. |
| August | Middleton | The city ended its contract in August, the Cap Times reported. |
| Aug 21 | West Salem | The police chief had the five cameras removed and is canceling the contract, citing cost, heavy use by outside agencies, and the risk of vandalism. |
| Aug 25 | Oneida County Sheriff | The sheriff ended use, citing public opposition and the potential for abuse. The six cameras came down about October 2. WJFW |
| Late August | Chetek | The City Council voted 3 to 1 to cover the two cameras and negotiate canceling a contract it had never voted on. |
| Sept 8 | Menasha | The mayor had the cameras covered on September 1, and the Common Council voted 7 to 1 to end the relationship. |
| Sept 8 | Sheboygan | The Common Council voted unanimously to terminate as of December 31 and keep the 15 cameras covered until then. |
| Sept 10 | Mukwonago | The village is ending a limited trial that began in July. |
| Sept 10 | UW-Milwaukee Police | Campus police are discontinuing Flock and have told the company to remove the cameras, which are covered for now. |
| Sept 14 | De Pere | The police chief ended use at once and had the cameras covered. The contract won’t be renewed when it runs out on November 15. |
| Sept 14 | Wautoma | Police covered the cameras, and the chief told the Common Council the contract had been canceled. |
| Sept 15 | Oconomowoc | The Common Council voted 5 to 2 to cancel, and the six cameras were covered within two days. The school district is dropping its four cameras too. |
| Sept 15 | Waukesha | The Common Council voted not to fund Flock after 2026. The cameras stay in use until December 31. |
| Sept 15 | Lake Mills | The police chief is opting out within the contract’s 90-day exit window, and the cameras are covered until Flock removes them. |
| September | Sauk Prairie | The Police Commission voted to end the contract, WiscNews reported. The vote date and tally aren’t confirmed. |
| Sept 16 | Neenah | The Common Council voted unanimously to terminate early. The police chief said he’ll wait for state legislation before considering plate readers again. |
| Sept 17 | Marinette | The Common Council voted 9 to 0 to cancel. The cameras had been covered since early September. |
| Sept 17 | Clark County Sheriff | The sheriff is canceling the contract and ending the plate-reader program after privacy complaints from residents. |
| Sept 21 | Cottage Grove | The Village Board voted unanimously to stop using plate readers, end the Flock agreement, and draft an ordinance barring plate readers of any brand. |
| Sept 21 | Manawa | The Common Council voted unanimously to send Flock a cancellation letter for breach of contract. The two planned cameras were never switched on. |
| Sept 25 | Manitowoc | The mayor switched the cameras off on September 5 and later told Flock the city won’t renew. The 2027 budget has no money for cameras of this kind. |
| Oct 1 | Milwaukee County | The County Board voted unanimously to remove the 42 Flock cameras in county parks by the end of 2026, and the county executive signed it on October 12. His proposed 2027 budget has no plate-reader money. The sheriff objects. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WTMJ |
| Oct 6 | Caledonia | The Village Board voted unanimously to defund Flock and end the contract. The six cameras come down at the end of 2026. |
| Oct 20 | Delavan | The Common Council voted 7 to 1 to cancel, and crews took the nine cameras down the next day. The city won’t buy plate readers from other companies in 2027. TMJ4 |
| Oct 23 | La Crosse | The police department is ending its contract, citing weak safeguards at other agencies that share the Flock network. The mayor backs the decision: “We cannot compromise on accountability and oversight.” No replacement has been named. WEAU |
Ended Flock, moving to another company
Flock is out, and the agency has signed with, is testing, has taken bids from, or is looking for another plate-reader company.
| When | Who | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| April 16 | Dane County Sheriff | The County Board voted 32 to 1 to cut Flock funding, and the contract expired May 31. In June the board voted to fund a replacement from another company, and four companies have bid. |
| April 22 | Oshkosh | The Common Council unanimously rescinded a renewal it had approved the day before, and police are looking for another vendor. On October 13 the council tabled Deputy Mayor Karl Buelow’s resolution to ban plate readers, and it’s expected back in November. NBC 26 |
| May 26 | Fitchburg | The Common Council voted unanimously to drop Flock. Police are testing Axon and Motorola readers, and any contract needs a council vote. |
| June 2 | Grand Chute | The Town Board voted unanimously to end Flock a year early and sign with Axon for 23 cameras. |
| June 26 | UW-Madison Police | The department let its contract end, had its eight cameras removed, and is looking at other vendors. |
| July 8 | Kaukauna | The mayor and police chief ended the contract for six cameras without a council vote and are looking at other systems. |
| Summer | Altoona | The police chief let the contracts expire and had the 11 cameras removed. The department now owns Verkada plate readers. |
| Sept 2 | Kenosha | The city is canceling Flock about a year early. Its 31 cameras are covered and are being replaced by 31 Axon readers. |
| Sept 4 | Racine County Sheriff | The sheriff ordered all of the office’s Flock cameras removed and hired a lawyer to end the agreement. The office is looking for another vendor. |
| Sept 15 | Racine | The Common Council voted 8 to 6 to end the contract after 30 days, after the mayor broke a 7 to 7 tie on the timetable. Police plan to get quotes for other plate readers. |
| Sept 16 | Sun Prairie | The city won’t renew, and its contracts end December 31 and March 31, 2027. A proposed Axon contract went to a committee on October 7. |
Cameras switched off, no final decision
The cameras are covered, suspended, or taken down, but no contract termination or final vote has been reported. These could still go either way.
| Switched off | Who | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| Sept 4 | Fond du Lac County Sheriff | The sheriff and four police chiefs in the county stopped using Flock together and covered every camera, after agencies in other states released their search logs. No contract has been terminated yet. |
| Sept 4 | Fond du Lac | Part of the joint county statement. No council vote yet. |
| Sept 4 | North Fond du Lac | Part of the joint county statement. No village board action yet. |
| Sept 4 | Ripon | The police chief joined the county statement three weeks after the Common Council renewed Flock 4 to 3. Both cameras are covered, and the city is seeking a refund. |
| Sept 4 | Waupun | Part of the joint county statement. No council vote yet. |
| Sept 4 | Winnebago County Sheriff | The sheriff suspended all Flock products pending talks with the company and an internal review. |
| Sept 4 | Fox Crossing | Named in the sheriff’s announcement that every police chief in Winnebago County was suspending Flock. |
| Sept 4 | Winneconne | Named in the same announcement. |
| Sept 4 | UW-Oshkosh Police | Campus police covered their cameras after the county suspension. |
| Sept 8 | Stevens Point | The mayor ordered the 10 cameras covered and said a return is very unlikely, even though the city had 7-day retention and monthly audits. “We really have no way of auditing where the Flock data goes once it’s collected,” Mayor Mike Wiza said. The police chief disagreed with the suspension, and the council hasn’t made a final decision. |
| Sept 8 | Waupaca County Sheriff | The sheriff suspended the cameras, saying, “The loss of control over sensitive law enforcement information is a concern we cannot ignore.” A county committee voted to drop Flock money from the 2027 budget, which isn’t final. WBAY |
| September | Waupaca | The police chief is suspending the city’s four cameras while he watches for changes in state law. |
| Sept 10 | Jefferson County Sheriff | The sheriff suspended the cameras after learning the office’s search data had been released without its permission. |
| Mid September | Waunakee | The police chief took down the five cameras after they were vandalized. The contract runs to the end of 2026, and he’s weighing other vendors. |
| Not confirmed | Trempealeau County Sheriff | The sheriff covered and then disabled the county’s cameras, a local paper reports, after a county supervisor pressed for months to turn them off. The contract was due to expire December 31. |
| Oct 27 | Wausau | The Common Council voted 9 to 1 to have police stop using Flock data and have Public Works cover the 20 cameras within two weeks. The Finance Committee took the 2027 payment out of the budget. No termination notice has been reported. |
Still using Flock despite opposition
Flock cameras were in use as of the latest report, and residents, elected officials, or a lawsuit have pushed back on the record. The Waukesha County lawsuit, filed in September by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty for two citizen groups and a resident, asks a court to require warrants for searches of Flock data. The county and 11 municipalities it names moved it to federal court on October 7 and asked for dismissal.
| Who | Where it stands |
|---|---|
| Marathon County Sheriff | The sheriff said September 15 he’ll keep the county’s cameras, and the county administrator says he needs no board approval. A county supervisor asked that audits of searches be made mandatory. |
| Plover | Police found no reason to suspend the village’s 10 cameras. A resident’s published letter asked for audits, sharing limits, and a public say. |
| Bayfield County Sheriff | Six cameras. One county committee voted to drop the money from the 2027 budget, and another voted 3 to 2 for a policy that could ban them. About 350 people signed a petition. The County Board takes it up October 27. |
| Brookfield | A council committee is reviewing the agreement after officers stopped innocent people on an outdated Flock alert on August 6. The city is a defendant in the Waukesha County lawsuit. |
| Delafield | The police chief defended the cameras in August, two days after the city turned off nationwide search. A defendant in the lawsuit. |
| Dodge County Sheriff | The sheriff and district attorney defend the cameras. The County Board voted 21 to 12 to send a resolution ending Flock funding back to committee. |
| Eau Claire County Sheriff | Thirteen cameras on a five-year contract. About 70 people rallied on August 30 for an outside audit. |
| Elm Grove | A defendant in the lawsuit, which says the village has no written Flock policy. |
| Green Bay | The mayor and police chief said the city will keep its 42 cameras under a tighter policy. Several alders, including the council president, and a residents’ petition oppose them. |
| Hartland | A defendant in the lawsuit. |
| Menomonee Falls | The department plans to keep using plate readers. A defendant in the lawsuit. |
| Milwaukee Police | The department wants to renew its contract, which ends in January 2027. Two alders have proposed requiring council committee approval of plate-reader contracts. |
| Muskego | Police have no immediate plans to change. The residents’ group NoCams Muskego wants an ordinance banning plate readers and is a plaintiff in the lawsuit. |
| New Berlin | The city declined to comment on the lawsuit, in which it is a defendant. |
| Pewaukee | The police chief defended the cameras in August. A defendant in the lawsuit. |
| Slinger | Five cameras. More than 250 people signed a petition, and about 10 spoke at the September 28 village meeting. |
| Two Rivers | Twelve cameras, with outside agencies’ access shut off. Council members said they had been misled about what the cameras do. |
| Washburn County Sheriff | Four cameras. The sheriff-elect described a big push from committees and politicians to get rid of them. |
| Watertown | The police chief is staying with Flock, and 10 more cameras were funded for 2026. Alders asked for a written policy and shorter data retention. |
| Waukesha County Sheriff | The office is reviewing its Flock policies. It is the lead defendant in the lawsuit. |
| West Allis | The Common Council has authorized up to $182,900 to add cameras. Residents asked the council on September 16 to reconsider. |
This last list isn’t every Flock customer in the state. Many more Wisconsin agencies use Flock with no reported dispute. McFarland and Marshfield dropped plans to buy Flock cameras before any were installed, and Madison police have never had them. The Bayfield County Board votes October 27, and Oshkosh’s tabled plate reader ban is expected back in November. WSAU reports that Wisconsin Rapids is discussing its Flock agreement the week of October 19.
Opposition from both parties
The opposition comes from both parties. Rep. Calvin Callahan, a Republican from Tomahawk, said in September that if these cameras cannot operate with warrants, judicial oversight, and strict limits on retention, “then they have no business operating in Wisconsin.” Attorney General Josh Kaul said, “I also don’t want to live in a world where we have a surveillance state.” Eric Toney, the Fond du Lac County district attorney and the Republican candidate for attorney general, called on September 29 for the Legislature to pass a law specific to this technology. The ACLU of Wisconsin and the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty are both challenging the cameras.
The same split shows up in Congress. On September 30, Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, announced the Stop Flock Abuse Act, which would tighten limits on the data these cameras collect and strengthen security requirements. On October 2, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Jeff Merkley, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced the Ban Flock Act, which would bar federal agencies from using plate readers or their data and withhold federal grants from state and local governments that keep these contracts.
The Marathon County Sheriff runs 10 more Flock cameras that Wausau drivers pass daily. They share with about 1,580 organizations in roughly 40 states, the county could leave the first five for about $4,000 in exit fees at most, and on November 10 the County Board voted to hold the $6,300 that keeps them running in contingency until there are rules on sharing, access, audits, and retention. Marathon County’s cameras