Flock Safety Offers Buyouts to 1,500 Staff as 90 Cities Drop Its Surveillance Tech
Updated
Updated · TechCrunch · Sep 19
Flock Safety Offers Buyouts to 1,500 Staff as 90 Cities Drop Its Surveillance Tech
3 articles · Updated · TechCrunch · Sep 19
Summary
Flock Safety rolled out what it called its most generous voluntary severance package Friday, expecting significant interest across its 1,500-person workforce and planning to approve most requests.
Wired reported the buyouts are meant to let demoralized employees leave amid backlash over Flock’s license-plate recognition business and could help the company avoid layoffs it would otherwise almost certainly need.
46 misuse cases identified by The Washington Post in August intensified that backlash, including allegations that police used Flock technology to stalk wives, girlfriends or exes.
90 cities dropped Flock in August alone, according to an anti-surveillance group, while Florida and Texas said they would stop using the startup’s technology.
Garrett Langley, Flock’s CEO, recently said the biggest damage from the controversy had been to internal morale, underscoring how customer losses are now feeding into staffing cuts.