How Flock’s cameras spread through government deals that bypassed public scrutiny

In less than a decade, Flock Safety’s license plate-reading cameras have spread across the United States. In dozens of communities, residents and their elected representatives never voted on whether to install them. An NBC News review of local government contracts and public records found that police departments and other officials regularly purchased Flock surveillance technology through deals that avoided competitive bidding or fell just below spending thresholds that require approval by elected representatives.

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