CBS News reports: “The mayor was the only person to vote against terminating the city’s contract with Flock. Plymouth has more than a dozen cameras that read license plates positioned around the city.” Plymouth was the city where a Flock licence-plate read error and a data-entry error in Califormia compounded to the arrest of an innocent person.
Minneapolis city council resolution calls on the U and Hennepin County to end Flock contracts
The Minneapolis city council has passed a resolution calling for the University of Minnesota and Hennepin County to terminate their Flock contracts.The resolution does not mention the Minneapolis Police Department’s own Flock contract.
City of Crystal, MN ends its Flock contract
The police chief of Crystal said the city will send its seven Flock cameras back to Flock Safety and stop sharing data with other agencies. The Minnesota Star Tribune quoted Crystal Police Department chief Brian Hubbard as saying, “We hear and understand the issues that have been expressed including privacy concerns, data collection and sharing, state laws, and the potential for misconduct.”
City Council withdraws motion to approve expansion of SPPD drone program
After postponing for a week any action on RES 26-1399 — authorizing the Saint Paul Police Department to apply for up to $200,000 from the Department of Justice to expand their “Drones as First Responders” program — the city council today withdrew the resolution from consideration. According to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, City Council president Rebecca Noecker said the item was “withdrawn because this council does not support an expansion of our drone program until a number of questions and concerns are addressed, and we will not be authorizing this grant application.”
City Council delays vote on resolution to authorize move to expand drone program
Saint Paul City Council delayed their vote on RES 26-1399, a resolution authorizing the Saint Paul Police Department to apply for a Department of Justice grant to fund the expansion of the City’s “Drones as First Responders” program.
The resolution comes one week after the city held a public hearing on the use of police surveillance technology. SPPD stated that they submitted their application prior to seeking the required approval to do so, in order to meet the grant application deadline. During the meeting, SPPD shared that they are seeking to expand their drone program so they can provide drone coverage over the entire city.
Many of the Council Members said they were not given enough time to understand the resolution or ask questions of SPPD about the expansion of the drone program. Without the opportunity for public testimony during the meeting, community members submitted over 30 comments online — nearly all calling on the city to reject the resolution, citing concerns over AI-powered mass surveillance and the use of Skydio drones.
A note on the city’s actions to remove two Flock cameras
We welcome this first small action towards ending Al-powered mass surveillance in Saint Paul.
Over the last several weeks, City Council has heard from many constituents across the city that this is simply not enough. We have been advocating for cancelling of the city’s Flock, Axon, and Skydio contracts and enacting stronger ordinances that prevent Al-powered mass surveillance from being used across our city.
To be clear: we do not want strong regulations over Al-powered surveillance — our demand is no Al-powered mass surveillance.
We remain optimistic that the city’s gesture yesterday was in good faith and hope that they will not only continue to engage the public, but also take actions that align with what our community is asking for: cut the Axon, Flock and Skydio contracts and ban Al-powered mass surveillance in Saint Paul.
City Council meeting of 2026-08-26 and its aftermath
The City Council today unanimously passed a resolution calling upon the City of Saint Paul and Ramsey County to end their contracts with Flock Safety.
Following this vote, in a special public meeting on police surveillance technology and data privacy, citizens offered testimony on the subject. Twenty-seven people, most of them residents of St. Paul, voiced their strong opposition to AI-enabled surveillance. In addition, 27 citizens had submitted written comments opposing surveillance, while two wrote in support of Flock ALPR cameras.
KARE11 reports: In a joint press release, St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her and St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry said the city’s Flock cameras will be removed. No timeline was given.
The Pioneer Press has more detailed coverage of the council resolution and its aftermath.