A Flock Safety salesman emailed the City of Sheboygan this summer offering to sell five years of traffic-speed and movement data captured by the city’s own cameras — data city officials say they were never told existed. The city has since bagged its 15 cameras and is moving to cancel the contract. This occurred after years of the company assuring customers that they will own the data, and that Flock only retains footage for 30 days (now recommended at 7). Flock is adamant the company does not sell it.
The story broke into national attention after FOX6 Milwaukee’s report, arguing the sales pitch proves Flock stores and controls data far beyond what cities were promised. That post quickly racked up tens of thousands of views.
What the salesman offered
Mayor Ryan Sorenson told FOX6 investigator Bryan Polcyn that a Flock sales representative emailed Sheboygan’s Engineering Department earlier this summer with an offer of five years of data on traffic speeds and movements recorded by the city’s Flock cameras. Those cameras were sold and contracted as automated license plate readers (ALPRs) — devices that photograph plates and vehicle characteristics to help police find stolen cars and wanted vehicles. Officials say they were not told the same hardware was also compiling speed and movement analytics that Flock could later try to sell back to the city.
License-plate hits for a hot-list vehicle (a flagged vehicle) are one product. A multi-year dataset of how fast cars move through Sheboygan and track where they go is something entirely different. This is closer to traffic-engineering intelligence or a mobility map of a city of about 50,000 people.
Sheboygan has operated 15 Flock cameras since 2024. In late August, public-works staff wrapped the cameras so they would stop collecting data. Police Chief Kurt Zempel and City Administrator Casey Bradley asked the Common Council to terminate the contract. The vote is scheduled for September 8.
Zempel has said ALPR technology helped solve serious cases and recover stolen property. He also said Flock’s conduct was “inconsistent with the terms and expectations of the City’s contract” and undermined trust. Sorenson said the decision is driven by “an erosion of trust from Flock itself and how they were using our data.” The City of Kenosha is also terminating its contract with Flock Safety on year early and is expected to officially address the matter. Related story:
