> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://foxwatershed.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Green Bay Keeps 42 Flock Cameras as De Pere Walks Away and Flock Sheds Staff - URL: https://foxwatershed.com/green-bay-de-pere-flock-cameras-split/ - Published: 2026-10-02T01:42:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-15T01:45:06.000Z - Description: De Pere is bagging its plate readers and ending its contract Nov. 15. Green Bay is keeping its cameras under tighter rules, even as neighbors drop Flock, a federal judge rules against a Flock search and the company cuts 18% of its staff. - Author: Fox Watershed Staff - Tags: Surveillance, Green Bay, Brown County, Fox Valley De Pere police are bagging the city's Flock license plate cameras and letting the contract die when it [expires Nov. 15](https://www.wbay.com/2026/09/15/green-bay-keeps-flock-cameras-with-updated-policy-de-pere-end-contract/?ref=foxwatershed.com), with the chief citing concerns that data was being shared without the department's consent. Next door, Green Bay is keeping all 42 of its cameras and betting that tighter rules can fix what a lengthening list of Wisconsin communities has decided can't be fixed. De Pere's three-year deal was worth $78,500, and the city won't get money back for leaving a couple of months early, WBAY reported. The chief said no council vote was needed because the contract was ending anyway. The split comes a month and a half after Fox Watershed reported that [Menasha had pulled the plug and Neenah looked ready to follow](https://foxwatershed.com/menasha-pulls-the-plug-on-flock-neenah-looks-ready-to-follow/). Neenah did. Since then Sheboygan, Stevens Point and Manitowoc have moved to cut ties, and Winnebago and Fond du Lac counties have paused or dropped their systems, according to [a Wisconsin Examiner tally](https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2026/09/09/more-wisconsin-communities-are-dropping-flock/?ref=foxwatershed.com). [Menasha Pulls the Plug on Flock, Neenah Looks Ready to FollowMayor Austin Hammond ordered every Flock license plate reader in the city covered by the end of the day, then said he'll ask the city council to kill the contract outright at a meeting later this month.ยน He blamed privacy, saying there's a real concern over "how the![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ed/b4/edb4fd27-66fb-4967-8c7f-ec1cf54dfb05/content/images/icon/transparent-5-587bc8c6-5481-409b-bfcf-c9eda31ba3de.png)Fox WatershedEthan Rouse![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ed/b4/edb4fd27-66fb-4967-8c7f-ec1cf54dfb05/content/images/thumbnail/Menasha_town_Townhall-1-1-5e81462b-8407-46cd-887d-0281e493d42d.jpg)](https://foxwatershed.com/menasha-pulls-the-plug-on-flock-neenah-looks-ready-to-follow/) ## Green Bay's Case for Staying Mayor Eric Genrich made the city's argument at a [Sept. 14 press conference](https://spectrumnews1.com/wi/green-bay/news/2026/09/14/green-bay-defends-flock-cameras?ref=foxwatershed.com), calling the cameras "constitutional, non-invasive and highly effective at solving crimes" and saying the city would be derelict not to use them. Police Chief Chris Davis said a recent audit found no misuse. Bill Gavin, a former alder and retired Green Bay police captain, credited the system with helping officers find a family member who had disappeared while going through emotional difficulties. Under the department's revised policy, officers must enter a case number and pick a crime type or public safety reason from a list before any search, and data is deleted after seven days instead of 30 unless detectives put a hold on it, Davis said. He also said Green Bay is limiting how much it shares with other agencies. Much of that matches defaults Flock [rolled out nationally in August](https://fox11online.com/news/local/green-bay-police-chief-glad-to-see-new-flock-safeguards-nationwide?ref=foxwatershed.com), when Davis said he was glad to see the company adopt rules Green Bay already had. The city's ties to the company run past the cameras. In December 2025 the Common Council [approved a $1.3 million, five-year contract](https://www.fox11online.com/news/local/green-bay-common-council-approves-13-million-contract-to-lease-2-police-drones-first-responders-law-enforcement-understaffed-hiring-911-calls-flock-grand-chute?ref=foxwatershed.com) to lease two first-responder drones from Flock, at about $170,000 a year and $190,000 in the final two years. At least one resident, Lisa Sanderfoot, [told FOX 11 in August](https://fox11online.com/news/local/green-bay-police-chief-glad-to-see-new-flock-safeguards-nationwide?ref=foxwatershed.com) that the money would be better spent on community resources. ## Why the Neighboring Municipalities Canceled For most departments that left, the problem was the vendor more than their own officers. Neenah Police Chief Aaron Olson said things Flock representatives told the city left him uncomfortable and that the company wasn't meeting standards for trust and transparency before the council [voted unanimously Sept. 16](https://fox11online.com/news/local/neenah-flock-common-council-unanimously-ends-use-of-automated-license-plate-reading-cameras-flock-safety-fourth-amendment-privacy-concerns-solving-investigations?ref=foxwatershed.com) to end its $30,000-a-year agreement. Sheboygan's mayor has said Flock tracked driving speeds and movement patterns and offered to sell that data back to the city. Flock told FOX 11 that customers own their data and the company doesn't sell it. Racine County's sheriff said Flock was [collecting and keeping more than his office had agreed to](https://www.wbay.com/2026/09/09/sheboygan-votes-end-flock-contract-amid-data-concerns/?ref=foxwatershed.com). The misuse cases kept coming, too. Former Menasha officer Cristian Morales was [sentenced to six months in jail](https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2026/09/09/more-wisconsin-communities-are-dropping-flock/?ref=foxwatershed.com) for using Flock to track an ex-girlfriend. Former Milwaukee officer Josue Ayala got probation after tracking an ex and her new partner more than 170 times, and fired Milwaukee detective Tehrangi Chapman, who helped investigate Ayala, [pleaded not guilty last week](https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2026/10/08/milwaukee-pd-renews-flock-contract-as-former-detective-appears-in-court-for-misuse/?ref=foxwatershed.com) to a felony charge accusing him of running 20 Flock searches on two people for personal reasons. ## The Ground Shifts Under Flock In a ruling first reported Oct. 2, federal Judge Sara Hill in Oklahoma ruled that a Tulsa sheriff's deputy violated a woman's Fourth Amendment rights by searching Flock for her car without a warrant, apparently because it had California plates. Hill suppressed the evidence that followed, including 91 pounds of meth the deputy said he found in the car, and called the system "a type of indiscriminate mass surveillance" in [her ruling](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.oknd.76981/gov.uscourts.oknd.76981.62.0.pdf?ref=foxwatershed.com). The decision doesn't bind other courts, but it's one of the first to find a Flock search unconstitutional, [TechCrunch reported](https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/03/federal-judge-calls-flock-indiscriminate-mass-surveillance/?ref=foxwatershed.com). In September, hackers who tore a Flock camera off its pole handed its contents to [404 Media](https://404media.co/hackers-stole-flocks-camera-software-revealing-how-the-company-tracks-cars-and-people-2?ref=foxwatershed.com) and WIRED. The device had stored the key to its encrypted footage in an unencrypted section, held more than 1.6 million images of about 50,000 vehicles from 21 days, and ran code that logs where people appear in the frame, [Straight Arrow News summarized](https://san.com/cc/hackers-stole-a-flock-camera-heres-what-they-found-inside/?ref=foxwatershed.com). Reporters found no sign of facial recognition. Flock said removing a camera is illegal and that it takes security seriously. The company is also shrinking. Flock is [cutting about 18% of its workforce](https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/09/surveillance-company-flock-cuts-staff-as-privacy-backlash-grows/?ref=foxwatershed.com), roughly 270 employees, through buyouts that take effect at the end of October, Reuters reported. A spokesperson called it a voluntary separation program rather than a layoff. ## What Comes Next The fight has reached the governor's race. Crowley's opponent, Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, has said he'd [pause state funding for Flock and convene a privacy task force](https://www.wbay.com/2026/09/03/flock-cameras-become-issue-wisconsin-governors-race/?ref=foxwatershed.com). In the Legislature, state Rep. Calvin Callahan has said he'll hold a hearing on surveillance cameras when lawmakers return, and Assembly Bill 576 could come up as soon as January, [FOX 11 reported](https://fox11online.com/news/local/neenah-flock-common-council-unanimously-ends-use-of-automated-license-plate-reading-cameras-flock-safety-fourth-amendment-privacy-concerns-solving-investigations?ref=foxwatershed.com). Neenah says it won't consider a replacement system until the state acts.