On Thursday, September 10, the UW-Milwaukee Police Department issued a statement: “The UWM Police Department has ended its use of Flock cameras on its own initiative. Flock has been asked to remove the cameras. In the meantime, UWM has covered them so that they cannot be used.”
This comes amidst a flurry of cities ‘flocking’ to cancel their contracts with the company, largely due to misuse, privacy and civil rights concerns.
What is a Flock camera?
These are AI-powered Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) that store images of passing vehicles. The cameras store specific details, including the vehicle’s make, model, color and location.
The main reason for these cameras is to enhance community safety by giving police officers access to the image database to help find missing persons, as championed on their website, flocksafety.com.
The problems for Flock started relatively early on in their existence. Seemingly overnight, people noticed these black cameras with solar panels on top around their communities, schools and major highways.
Flock cameras’ rapid construction was made possible through contracts with local police departments. The public didn’t appreciate the lack of notice around these cameras and didn’t hesitate to make it known. From going to city council meetings to creating apps to track police use of Flock cameras, communities banded together to make their voices heard.
When cameras were first installed, they stored data for up to 30 days, auto-deleting after that time window expired. Part of the recent pushback Flock has faced led them to tighten that rolling window to seven days of stored information.
Milwaukee approved its first Flock contract in 2022 per Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service1, although it’s not entirely clear when they came to the UWM campus.
As with most issues of public interest, however, the results of these “de-flock” efforts have been mixed. Cameras have been vandalized and stolen, as Winona, MN experienced earlier this year, per Valley News Live2.
Some cities have responded to the mass distrust by canceling their contracts, including Stevens Point and Sheboygan3, as per the Wisconsin Examiner.
In fact, just weeks ago the Milwaukee Police Department imposed heavy regulations on who has access to the feed. This restricted access to supervisors from the local department and ceased sharing with neighboring jurisdictions, per Wisconsin Examiner4.
Flock cameras at UWM now
UWM is bagging up cameras and telling Flock to hit the road. I took a trek around campus to get the opinions of UWM students on the exit of these cameras. The responses were exceptionally hopeful.
“That’s a huge win for students and teachers,” one gentleman told me.
Another offered: “Making the community feel safe and protected during very uncertain times…just putting the community first. This is exactly why I chose UWM.”
However, what really intrigued me was what another student had to say: “Flock cameras are an infringement of personal liberty. I do understand their value, protecting the students of this campus, but above all, I believe in the right of privacy.” There were many more students I spoke with who echoed similar concerns.
National and local distrust of Flock seem to be the leading reasons for the company’s abrupt exit from the university.
It’s tough to say for certain, as all the University Police will say is the above statement, as well as: “UWM parking garage license plate readers are not connected to any internal or external systems outside of UWM Transportation Services. Their sole purpose is to read license plates at designated parking facility entrances and exits.”
For those concerned about privacy, this appears to be a big win. All student statements came from people I found on campus who asked to remain anonymous.
Notes:
- 1https://milwaukeenns.org/2026/06/08/police-records-show-milwaukees-surveillance-infrastructure-is-growing/
- 2https://www.valleynewslive.com/2026/08/04/every-flock-camera-winona-minnesota-cut-down-stolen-coordinated-theft/
- 3https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2026/09/09/more-wisconsin-communities-are-dropping-flock/
- 4https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2026/09/02/milwaukee-further-restricts-flock-as-controversy-continues-to-grow/