Source: WIRED
Flock Security has built a $1+ billion business selling license plate readers to municipalities through contracts where total costs—layered with integration fees and data-sharing arrangements—often exceed initial quotes by 2-3x over five years. Cities discover they're locked into proprietary systems with limited visibility into how footage is retained, shared with law enforcement, or monetized. This creates long-term dependencies that constrain negotiating power or exit options. The pricing structure exposes a pattern in civic tech: vendors front-load affordability claims while back-loading costs through mandatory upgrades, integrations, and data services that municipalities struggle to audit or refuse.