Flock Safety, a license plate recognition company, offered voluntary severance packages to its workforce Friday, Sept. 18, describing them as the most generous it has extended.
The company expects a significant portion of its 1,500 employees to accept the buyouts. Internal communications indicated Flock would "almost certainly" need to conduct involuntary layoffs without the voluntary separation program.
Flock CEO Garrett Langley attributed the move to internal morale damage from ongoing public backlash. In August, The Washington Post identified 46 cases of alleged misuse by police officers using Flock technology, including instances of officers reportedly stalking individuals.
The revelations prompted rapid customer defection. Florida and Texas announced they would stop using Flock's technology. An anti-surveillance advocacy group reported that 90 cities dropped Flock's services in August alone—a fourfold increase from July.
The exodus threatens Flock's business model, which depends on municipal contracts for recurring revenue. Customer churn at this scale risks undermining unit economics across the platform.
