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Flock Safety opened voluntary employee buyouts with an October 2 application deadline, extended health coverage and two years to exercise stock options.
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Flock Safety is offering a voluntary separation package as its surveillance business faces customer defections, higher camera-vandalism costs, and reputational damage tied to its AI investigative tools. The company expects most applicants to be approved and says the package is about twice as generous as prior severance, including healthcare coverage and two years to exercise stock options.
Applications run September 18–October 2; decisions are due October 9, with most departures planned by October 29.
Flock expects to approve most applicants; some employees may remain one to three additional months for transition needs.
The package includes several months of healthcare coverage and two years to exercise stock options.
Flock Safety has opened a voluntary employee separation program that it expects to approve for most applicants, creating an exit route for workers as the license-plate-reader company loses customers and confronts a widening backlash over its surveillance technology.
Applications opened September 18 and close October 2. Employees should learn whether their applications were accepted on October 9. Most accepted workers would leave by October 29, although Flock may ask some to stay another one to three months.
Flock’s internal message frames the program as a way to give employees “greater agency” and says it treats them with transparency, respect and choice. The package is described as the company’s most generous yet, roughly twice its previous severance offers.
But the same plan can also be read as a way to lower headcount without compulsory layoffs. People familiar with Flock told WIRED that many of the company’s roughly 1,500 employees may seek the offer; one person said layoffs would be almost certain without buyouts. Those are assessments from people familiar with the program, not an announced layoff plan.
The offer arrives as Flock has had many contracts dropped or not renewed during 2026, according to people familiar with the company. Those people also said vandalism directed at Flock cameras has increased expenses. An advocacy group counted 93 city and county governments that ended ties with Flock in August alone.
Flock’s core business is a network of license-plate readers, but WIRED has also reported that it developed AI-powered investigative software designed to identify drivers, identify potential associates from movement patterns, and search police and other data. That expanding capability is part of the setting for disputes over the company’s data collection, sharing and potential misuse.
Chief executive Garrett Langley said last month that the backlash had inflicted its biggest damage on internal morale. The new program does not settle whether Flock’s customer losses will continue, but it gives the company a defined way to shrink while giving some employees a better-than-usual route out.
Story updates
About one in five jobs at Flock Safety could disappear by the end of October 2026. Reuters reports that the AI surveillance camera company plans to cut roughly 270 employees, citing people with direct knowledge. The reduction follows a voluntary buyout program, as Flock faces growing opposition over privacy and data sharing.
Flock opened its voluntary separation program in September, asking employees to apply if they wanted to leave. WIRED reported that the company sought to shrink its staff to avoid mandatory layoffs, according to TechCrunch. The new Reuters account puts a figure on the expected reduction: about 18% of a workforce of roughly 1,500.
Reuters’ sources spoke on condition of anonymity because the company had not made the plan public. Flock declined to comment to Reuters on the reported plans.
On Friday, October 9, Flock spokesperson Paris Lewbel gave TechCrunch a statement confirming that the company had offered a voluntary separation program.
Flock recently offered current employees a generous Voluntary Separation Program as part of our efforts to position the company for its next phase of growth. This was a voluntary program, not a layoff, and reflects our continued focus on building a strong, sustainable business for the future.
Lewbel also declined to answer TechCrunch’s question about whether CEO Garrett Langley or other executives had taken a pay cut as part of the program.
The staffing reduction comes against a growing dispute over Flock’s reach. Its network spans about 120,000 AI-powered cameras across 49 states. Mounted along streets and highways, the cameras automatically read license plates and record passing vehicles. Flock supplies cameras and software to more than 4,800 law enforcement agencies and nearly 1,000 businesses.
Flock says its technology helps investigate and solve crimes. Critics have challenged its data-sharing practices and alleged privacy violations. In September, Florida banned automated license-plate readers from state highways, citing privacy risks tied to Flock cameras. A Virginia privacy lawsuit alleges that widespread deployment of the cameras amounts to warrantless surveillance.
Public opinion is divided, too. A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 38% of Americans supported Flock cameras in their communities, while 47% opposed them. Neither Reuters’ sources nor Flock’s statement identified privacy backlash as the cause of the workforce reduction.
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