Flock status: Termination approved; police use discontinued
Campaign status: Removal, access and data-closeout verification
Last verified: September 19, 2026
Eastpointe voted to terminate Flock.
On September 15, 2026, Eastpointe City Council voted 4-1 to terminate the city’s Flock agreement. Police Chief Corey Haines said the department discontinued using Flock while the administration and city attorney worked through the termination procedure.
WXYZ reported that a date for physical camera removal had not yet been determined.
WXYZ: Eastpointe ends Flock contract after misuse findings →
CBS Detroit: council vote and police-chief statement →
The police chief disclosed two employee-misuse findings.
Haines said an internal investigation found that two Police Department employees misused the system:
- one employee used Flock for a personal purpose and received what the chief called severe discipline; and
- another employee committed a policy violation, with that matter still under investigation when the statement was issued.
Those are official findings described by the police chief—not a claim that every Eastpointe officer misused the system. The distinction matters.
The incidents also demonstrate the limit of relying on rules alone. A required search reason or audit trail may help uncover misuse later; it does not make an improper search impossible or erase information already viewed or exported.
See other documented misuse and failure cases →
Reporting describes an automatic renewal before termination.
Detroit News reporting republished by AOL described a 24-month agreement signed in March 2024, with $14,100 for installation and $56,500 annually for search access—a reported two-year total of $127,100. The report said the agreement automatically renewed for another two years in March 2026.
We have not yet obtained the controlling agreement or renewal instrument, so those contract details remain reported facts awaiting primary-document confirmation.
Detroit News report republished by AOL →
The sequence is an important local warning:
A contract renewed automatically. Audit activity raised questions. Internal investigations found misuse. Council then voted to terminate.
Finding the renewal clause before it operates is better than discovering it afterward.
The camera count also needs reconciliation.
WXYZ described 18 cameras. FOX 2 described 19. We do not choose a number without resolving the difference.
The final inventory and removal records should establish how many city-associated devices existed, which were active, who owned them and what happened to each one.
Eastpointe is not yet classified as fully DeFlocked.
The strongest current status is:
Termination approved → police use discontinued → physical removal and data closeout being verified.
Before calling the process complete, residents should verify:
- the effective termination date and any remaining payment or refund obligations;
- removal or return of every city-associated Flock camera;
- closure of Eastpointe user accounts, alerts and network-search access;
- deletion of routine local data, subject to properly preserved case evidence;
- the final disposition of the second employee matter; and
- whether Eastpointe adopts any materially equivalent replacement system.
The next useful records
Ask for a focused set rather than a sprawling request:
- the agreement and order forms in effect immediately before September 15;
- the council motion, termination notice and vendor correspondence;
- records establishing the effective termination date;
- camera-removal, return or deactivation records and the final inventory;
- account, sharing and network-access closure records;
- data-deletion or disposition certification; and
- releasable final findings concerning the two misuse incidents.
Use the Michigan public-records guide →
Why this case matters across Metro Detroit
Eastpointe combines several issues that are often discussed separately: automatic renewal, routine searchable access, audit evidence, actual employee misuse, council authority and the unfinished work after a termination vote.
The practical lesson is not that safeguards are worthless. It is that safeguards detected harm only after the searchable system and access already existed.
One useful action: ask Eastpointe for the termination, removal and data-closeout records so the public can verify that the decision was fully carried out.