Senators ask DOJ to fence in Flock's plate network as Fairfax shops rivals and a Georgia county quits
The shared network is what prices Flock's contracts, and a Justice Department rulebook that caps plate-data sharing would cap that price. Axon already runs more than 700 plate readers in Fairfax County against Flock's 84, and at least 214 cities and counties are recorded as having quit Flock.
Vincent Jiang · 4 min read
Two senators are aiming at the network that prices Flock's contracts
On September 21, 2026, Senators Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Katie Britt of Alabama asked Attorney General Todd Blanche for Justice Department guidance to state and local police on automated license plate readers, after a Washington Post investigation found more than 50 officers accused, charged or convicted of using the systems to spy on romantic interests 1.
Flock Safety, the Atlanta company behind more than 120,000 cameras serving hundreds of police departments and neighborhood associations, is named in the letter 12. The senators' aim is the shared network behind the cameras, which is what Flock prices: the company sells "the hardware, the software, and the network" as one subscription 3.
The pressure escalates, and a campus contract shows what the price buys
Two days later, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism held a hearing on Flock's "nationwide AI surveillance network"; Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri said he had invited Flock's chief executive to testify, but no industry chief was on the witness list 1.
In October, Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jeff Merkley introduced the Ban Flock Act, which would block federal funding to state and local governments that keep the readers 4. The subscription shows up at the University of North Florida, where campus police have committed $207,400 through 2028 for 18 cameras, a price that buys access to 392 outside plate networks across five states 5.
A Georgia county quits because of cost
Madison County, about 30,000 residents 85 miles northeast of Atlanta, ended its Flock contract in September: the readers were "a potentially useful investigative tool," but "the benefits are simply not worth the financial cost," the sheriff's office said 2. The cameras are off, but removal has stalled and is now expected to take weeks; Flock has been "a little harder to work with during the removal process than we had expected" 2. Flock has issued no public statement on the termination 2.
Fairfax is weighing rivals while Axon runs the bigger fleet
Fairfax County, Virginia, which has paused new installations, heard its options on October 20: keep Flock while testing vendors that meet state law, or run a closed network with no data leaving the county 6. Axon+1.02% — Axon, up 1.02 percent today (NASDAQ: AXON), the police-equipment and software company, already operates more than 700 Fleet 3 plate readers on Fairfax police cruisers, against 84 county Flock cameras and 120 privately owned ones; Arlington, next door, has removed Flock from public property 6.
Axon cameras already outnumber Flock's in Fairfax County
Data
| Value | |
|---|---|
| Axon Fleet 3, cruiser-mounted | 700 |
| Flock, privately owned | 120 |
| Flock, Fairfax County police | 84 |
Axon, the listed company best placed if Fairfax switches, grew revenue 35 percent year over year to $904 million in the second quarter of 2026, its tenth straight quarter above 30 percent 7. Flock, still private, says new city deals outpace non-renewals ten to one, but it cut 18 percent of its staff this month and at least 214 cities and counties are recorded as having left, six of them catalogued here on Wednesday 4.
The listed rival compounds: ten straight quarters above 30 percent revenue growth
Data
| Revenue | |
|---|---|
| Q1 '24 | $459.87M |
| Q2 '24 | $503.24M |
| Q3 '24 | $544.27M |
| Q4 '24 | $575.15M |
| Q1 '25 | $603.63M |
| Q2 '25 | $668.54M |
| Q3 '25 | $710.64M |
| Q4 '25 | $796.72M |
| Q1 '26 | $807.35M |
| Q2 '26 | $904.39M |
Police defend the tool with audits and a three-week cap
Major Hudson Bull, who runs Fairfax County's Real Time Crime Center, credited the readers with crime declines around Fair Oaks Mall, Tysons Corner Center and Springfield Town Center 6. Every police search is audited by artificial intelligence and human review, data sits in Amazon's−4.40% — Amazon, down 4.40 percent today government cloud for at most three weeks, and a Virginia law in force since July 2025 bars plate data from leaving the commonwealth 6.
Supervisors see back doors, and the audit logs are now redacted
Bull also said Flock "has never had a contract with ICE," Immigration and Customs Enforcement 6. Supervisor Jimmy Bierman answered that agencies with guardrails "found out later that there were back doors into their systems being used by other people" 6.
The national record feeds the worry: USA TODAY's analysis of 75 million searches across 6,300 agencies flagged 240 outlier users, at least 19 employees were arrested, fired or put on leave within two months, and Flock responded by redacting the audit logs that made the count possible; its audit tool becomes mandatory only at the end of 2026 8.
Three decisions will now set Flock's price
Fairfax took no vote on October 20 and will evaluate the options for a year 6. Three things now decide the price: the Justice Department's answer to Warnock and Britt, whether Flock's chief executive agrees to testify before Hawley's subcommittee, and the renewal calendar, where every expiring contract is priced against a rulebook that does not exist yet 1.
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