MANKATO — A year after area residents rebelled against a proposed expansion of local artificial-intelligence-enhanced surveillance systems, Mankato city leaders appear to have dropped plans to join the Flock Safety network — the most controversial element of multi-pronged plan.
“We do not have any Flock systems or software within Mankato Department of Public Safety,” said Public Safety Director Jeremy Clifton.
That response — and the question from Council member Michael McLaughlin that prompted it — were the only times the F-word came up during Clifton’s second quarterly report on the city’s use of automated license plate readers.
In spring 2025, the council seemed ready to approve a four-part plan to enhance surveillance capabilities within the city. But intense opposition arose in the final meetings before the plan was to be adopted, and there was particular concern about the Flock Safety component that would have installed 12 cameras at major highway entrances to Mankato.
The Flock cameras would have monitored all vehicles passing by those entrances, recording data that would have been available — with certain restrictions — to other law enforcement agencies across America. In return, Mankato police would have had reciprocal access to data from tens of thousands of cameras installed in other jurisdictions when searching for suspects, fugitives and missing persons.
By May, opponents were growing more numerous and more vocal at council meetings.
Chris Schoenstedt, of Mankato, predicted that any privacy safeguards enacted locally would eventually be overridden by federal officials.
“It’s not if but when the federal government, including ICE, will take the opportunity to use this wide-reaching warrantless surveillance,” Schoenstedt said, asking the council to block all the proposed additional technology. “We need to make sure the opportunity for this type of attack on our civil liberties never exists in the first place.”
A month later, city staff were still recommending approval of all four elements of the plan. The council, following a tense public meeting June 12, moved forward only with two components — the activation of license-plate reader software tied to squad car cameras and the installation of city-controlled cameras at a few intersections around Mankato. (See related story.)
Part of the resolution passed by the council was that the other two elements — joining the Flock network and purchasing or leasing a mobile trailer-mounted surveillance camera — would not be approved for at least six months. The concept behind the compromise offered by McLaughlin was that city officials could review how the first two surveillance programs were working before expanding the initiative to the other components.
Clifton’s report last week was the second quarterly review since the six months have passed, and there was no suggestion by city staff or the council that it was time to move forward with the Flock membership.
Mankato is far from alone in debating the merits of Flock. The network has come with some controversy for local jurisdictions for years, but media reports suggest skepticism has been growing in recent months in cities across America.
“Some are shutting down their cameras and ripping them off lightpoles,” according to an April 6 story in the Guardian. “Others are signing new contracts, albeit with stronger language about how data is shared. Many are still looking for their footing.”
The British daily newspaper noted that Flock Safety is unique among American surveillance camera companies in the nationwide search capability that it offers to law enforcement subscribers. If local police are searching for someone, they can request access to the broader network’s data, which is generated by more than 80,000 cameras across the United States.
The immigration crackdown implemented by the Trump administration has heightened concerns about Flock, according to the Guardian. So did a Super Bowl ad that highlighted the Ring doorbell cameras sold by Amazon — a system that partnered with Flock until the post-Super Bowl backlash prompted Amazon to end the partnership.
“404 Media revealed in May 2025 that local police around the country had repeatedly searched Flock’s database to assist federal immigration enforcement. An examination of school records by education news group The 74 showed dozens of national searches made by local school police departments to assist with immigration enforcement,” the newspaper reported. “An Atlanta police department investigator made similar searches, even though the department has a no-cooperation policy with ICE.”
The Star Tribune reported last week that Brooklyn Park has withdrawn from the Flock network and Shorewood has, at least temporarily, shut down the cameras in that community.
Other media reports have highlighted instances of crimes solved, suspects captured and missing persons found because of information provided by the Flock cameras.