Newburgh residents press council to end Flock camera contract
Residents pushed Newburgh to scrap its Flock cameras, while council weighed a nearly $400,000 exit fee and questions over who can see the data.
Newburgh residents pressed the City Council on Tuesday night to end the police department’s Flock street-camera contract, turning the meeting into a sharp fight over privacy, public safety and the price of walking away.
The dispute has become more than a vote on cameras. Councilwoman Tamika Stewart argued the city needs a different vendor rather than no technology at all, saying Newburgh would be left vulnerable if the system disappeared outright. Councilman Omari Shakur took the opposite view and wanted the contract terminated with 30 days’ notice. Between those positions sat the practical hurdle: ending the agreement mid-contract would cost the city just under $400,000, a figure that made several lawmakers bristle at the idea of paying so much to exit a deal residents no longer trust.
The arguments centered on what the Flock system collects and who can see it. Flock’s Falcon units are solar-powered license plate readers, and the company says its platform can pull together alerts from license plate readers, video, gunshot detection, drones and other systems. It also says it provides agency-controlled sharing and compliance tools. That has done little to quiet concerns in Newburgh, where opponents have warned that camera images could be used too broadly, including shared with federal authorities.
The local surveillance footprint is already sizable. A report in April said Newburgh had dozens of stationary license plate readers and was aiming to install 88 total. Atlas of Surveillance listed 64 Flock automated license plate readers in use as of September 2025, suggesting the system is not a small pilot but an expanding part of policing on city streets.
The pressure on City Hall also has regional context. The Village of Newburgh canceled its own Flock Safety contract in August 2025 after privacy objections, ending plans that had included automated license plate readers, live-view surveillance cameras and drone-as-a-first-responder technology. Nationally, license plate readers have spread rapidly, and some cities have begun pulling back as privacy and security worries grow.
For Newburgh, the issue now runs through both the budget and the public record. The city’s FY2026 adopted budget totals $103,488,248, making a nearly $400,000 termination cost a significant expense. Council meetings are held at City Hall, 83 Broadway, Newburgh, NY 12550, and are archived online, giving residents a continuing forum to press officials on the same question: whether the cameras have solved enough local crime to justify keeping them in place.
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