Flock cuts 18% of staff, about 270 employees, via buyout

Flock is reducing its staff by 18%, or around 270 employees, across the company through a voluntary separation program, with affected employees leaving at the end of October. The company confirmed the figures to TechCrunch.

Flock spokesperson Paris Lewbel said the company offered a Voluntary Separation Program and described the departures as voluntary rather than a layoff. Flock declined to comment on whether CEO Garrett Langley or other executives took a pay cut as part of the program.

The company has installed over 100,000 license plate-reading cameras across the U.S. that let police and federal agents track vehicles. Wired reported that Flock was asking some employees to leave to shrink staff and avoid mandatory layoffs.

Dozens of police officers have been arrested, fired, or forced to resign for abusing access to Flock's system to track people without a warrant or permission. Some cities moved to take down Flock's cameras after public outcry, and Flock quickly replaced them, prompting some Americans to destroy the cameras.

Flock has also been criticized for poor cybersecurity, including cameras publicly exposed and accessible from the web, and security experts have questioned its accuracy after the system misidentified license plates, leading to improper police stops and arrests, including a journalist driving an authorized review vehicle. Several law enforcement departments, including the Los Angeles police department, allowed their contracts to expire or lapse over privacy and civil liberties concerns.