Flock Safety, a surveillance technology company, has announced a generous severance plan for employees who choose to leave the firm voluntarily. The company said it expects a large number of its 1,500-person workforce to accept the buyout offers. Internal documents from Flock described these severance packages as the most generous the company has ever provided. The voluntary program gives employees who have been affected by criticism of the company and declining morale an opportunity to leave with severance.
Without these buyouts, Flock would likely have to reduce its staff through layoffs instead, according to TechCrunch. In August, a major news outlet reported that police officers had misused Flock’s license plate recognition system in at least 46 cases. Some of these incidents involved officers stalking family members or ex-partners using the technology.
The Washington Post found that Flock’s system was used in 46 cases involving alleged police misuse. In 26 cases involving Flock or competing license plate reader systems, investigators said officers had monitored wives, girlfriends, former partners or other women for personal reasons. Flock responded by announcing new safeguards including mandatory case numbers for searches and automated reviews for unusual activity.
Florida and Texas have taken state-level steps to restrict the use of automated license plate readers amid concerns over privacy and misuse. Florida transportation officials revoked permits for license plate readers on state highway rights-of-way and ordered affected cameras removed. Texas halted state funding for the technology and stopped issuing new permits for cameras on state roads.
An advocacy group identified more than 90 cities that removed Flock’s technology from their operations in August alone. That number was a fourfold increase compared to the previous month, showing a sharp rise in public resistance.
Secure Justice said 214 cities and counties had ended their use of Flock systems since 2021 as of late August. Ninety of those decisions occurred during August 2026.
The backlash has come even as police departments continue to defend the cameras as useful tools for finding stolen vehicles, locating missing people and investigating crimes. Flock says misuse represents only a small portion of the roughly 140,000 people authorized to use its systems.
CEO Garrett Langley has said criticism surrounding the company has had its biggest effect on employee morale. The voluntary departure program gives employees until early October to apply, according to WIRED.