What Flock Actually Costs Cities Across the Country

In 2022, the cost of Flock's surveillance equipment increased to $81,250. Fifteen new "Falcon" cameras, equipped with more advanced technology for reading license plates, accounted for $37,500. Additional expenses included $3,750 for installing the new cameras and the maintenance of the initial fleet. In 2024, Covington, Georgia, paid Flock $113,225, of which $87,500 was allocated for maintaining the existing 35 cameras for the next five years.

The remainder went toward acquiring eight new Falcon cameras. The following year, Covington paid Flock $159,000, covering camera maintenance and enrolling in its Drone as First Responder program, which utilizes drones to reach emergency scenes and transmit footage to the police station. The long-term financial implications of Covington's contract with Flock remain uncertain as of August 2025, but through that point, the city had paid $201,000, including $100,000 for camera maintenance, $800 for replacing one camera, and $100,200 for new software products.

Covington's police department did not respond to a request for comment. Despite being a small portion of Covington's $12,488,733 budget for June 2025 to July 2026, Flock contracts have come under scrutiny nationwide due to concerns over the company's surveillance practices. To gain access to Flock's surveillance systems, Covington initially purchased license plate readers from private homeowner associations (HOAs), which were already utilizing the company's technology.

This approach proved successful, leading to Alpharetta, Georgia, expanding its collaboration with Flock over several years, culminating in an annual bill of $381,000 by 2025. Companies that sell technology to police departments often employ financial incentives to secure customers, such as offering new and increasingly extensive products or free trial periods.

Flock has also incentivized contracts with multiyear agreements, reducing the overall cost for departments. In 2024, Alpharetta signed a five-year contract with Flock, paying $254,250 in the first year and $238,000 for each subsequent year, saving $232,500 compared to five one-year contracts. The police chief of Greenfield, California, proposed replacing SurveillanceGrid and Paladin surveillance companies with a five-year contract with Flock, adding about $24,000 to the city's annual surveillance expenses.