Flock, the maker of license-plate reader and people-tracking cameras, is cutting about 270 employees, roughly 18 percent of its workforce, through a voluntary separation program with departures at the end of October. Reuters first reported the cuts on October 8; a Flock spokesperson, Paris Lewbel, told TechCrunch on October 9 that “this was a voluntary program, not a layoff.” Wired had reported last month that Flock was asking some employees to leave to avoid mandatory layoffs.
The cuts come as the privacy backlash Flock built its growth on has turned. Police officers have been arrested or fired for abusing Flock access to stalk people; departments including LAPD have let contracts lapse over privacy concerns; some cities removed cameras, which Flock then replaced; and the company has faced poor cybersecurity practices including publicly exposed cameras and misidentified plates that led to improper stops.
Flock has installed more than 100,000 license-plate cameras across the US. The staff reduction is the first sign that the political costs of that footprint are showing up in the company’s operating model, not just its headlines.