In 2020, the police department of picturesque Covington, Georgia, paid Flock Safety, the surveillance technology company, $40,000 to maintain 20 cameras around the city. The next year, it paid the same amount.

In 2022, that cost went up to $81,250. Fifteen new “Falcon” cameras, which Flock says have more sophisticated technology for reading license plates, accounted for $37,500. Another $3,750 went toward installing the new cameras, and the rest was spent maintaining the initial fleet.

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Then, in 2024, the department paid Flock $113,225. Of that, $87,500 was to maintain its existing 35 cameras, a rate it agreed to pay for the next five years, and the remainder went toward eight new Falcon cameras. The next year, Covington paid Flock $159,000 for a combination of camera maintenance and enrollment in its Drone as First Responder program, which uses drones to fly to emergency scenes and stream footage back to the police station.

It’s unclear how much Covington will wind up paying Flock in 2026, but through August, it has paid $201,000—$100,000 to maintain its existing cameras, $800 to replace one, and another $100,200 for new software products. The Covington Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.

Overall, Flock is a small fraction of the Covington police department’s $12,488,733 budget for June 2025 to July 2026. But amid fierce blowback about Flock’s surveillance practices, contracts with the company are now being scrutinized in cities across the country.

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