Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Passes on Flock Contract After Drone Pilot
The Flock pilot ends Dec. 1; the office said its aging drones can no longer be acquired and it will evaluate other platforms.
Source: WXYZ; Oakland County Board of Commissioners ↗
The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office in Michigan will not move forward with a contract with Flock Safety for its Drone as First Responder program, the office said, as a pilot called “Project Prove It” nears its end. Records show the office sent notice in early August that it would terminate the agreement effective Dec. 1, 2026, WXYZ reported.
The pilot gave the office a free trial of Flock’s 911 response drones. After the trial, the deal would have cost up to $2.5 million, WXYZ reported. When county commissioners approved the free nine-month pilot April 8, they required that any contract after the pilot come back to the board for approval through the county’s procurement process, according to the board’s minutes.
What the Sheriff’s Office Said
Sheriff’s office spokesperson Tyler Sweers said in a statement to WXYZ that the evaluation was driven by the fact that “our current platform is aging, and we can no longer acquire them.” The office said it decided not to pursue a contract with Flock for the program. “As we work to replace our aging drone fleet, we will continue evaluating other platforms,” the office said. WXYZ reported that the office is still pursuing drone technology from other companies.
Parks Department Drops Flock Cameras
The county Parks Department will not renew its Flock license plate reader contracts. The cameras were installed in 2023 after incidents at some dog parks and also helped track visitor counts. Parks Director Chris Ward said the cameras were better at investigating crimes after the fact than at deterring them, and that almost all of the incidents that led to follow-ups “had nothing to do with anything that happened within our parks.” Parks will keep its security cameras and car-counting technology, but not from Flock. In September, county commissioners approved an auto-theft grant that would fund Flock license plate readers and quick-deploy cameras for the county, WXYZ reported.
County Commissioner Charlie Cavell called the sheriff’s decision “extremely good news.” Flock said, “We remain committed to supporting Oakland County and our law enforcement partners.”
