Appleton, WI

Appleton, WI

The Appleton Common Council voted unanimously to approve a resolution terminating the city's contract with Flock Safety for license plate reader cameras. The council action followed Mayor Jake Woodford's May 6, 2026 announcement that Appleton would stop using Flock products — and, he said, automated license plate cameras from any vendor, not only Flock. Woodford said concerns about the integrity of Flock's underlying system had eroded the city's trust and that examples of illegitimate use of Flock data by personnel in other departments reinforced accountability concerns outside Appleton's control as a customer. The city stopped using the cameras June 30, 2026, covered them, notified Flock in June, and requested removal by July 31.

What happened afterwards

Cameras went dark June 30, 2026 and were physically covered before the council's formal termination vote. A companion resolution establishing public oversight and accountability standards for ALPRs and mass surveillance technologies was referred back to the safety and licensing committee, so Appleton's forward-looking policy framework was still unfinished as of mid-July 2026. Appleton is notable for extending the decision beyond one vendor to the technology category.

What we still don’t know

These are the records we would need to describe this decision completely. If you can help obtain them, or already have them, get in touch.

Camera count and contract value

Whether the oversight-and-accountability resolution has since been adopted

Whether Flock removed the cameras by the July 31 deadline

What moved this decision

What happened afterwards

What we still don’t know

Sources