Flock Safety offers buyouts as backlash over its tech grows

Flock Safety, the surveillance technology company facing sustained backlash over its license-plate-recognition systems, unveiled a “generous” severance package for voluntary employee departures on Friday, according to a report in Wired.

Flock expects a significant portion of its 1,500-person workforce to express interest in the buyouts, and said it will grant them to a majority of those who are interested. The company’s internal announcement described the packages as the most generous it has ever offered. By letting employees leave voluntarily, Flock can part ways with staff demoralized by the ongoing backlash over its technology; Wired also reports that without the buyouts, the company would almost certainly need to lay off some employees.

The backlash has built over several months. In August, The Washington Post identified 46 cases in which police officers have been accused of misusing Flock technology, including cases where they allegedly stalked their wives, girlfriends, or exes. Florida and Texas have both said they will stop using the startup’s technology, and an anti-surveillance advocacy group identified 90 cities that dropped Flock in August alone — a fourfold increase from the previous month.

TechCrunch has reached out to Flock for comment. Flock CEO Garrett Langley recently told the All-In podcast that the backlash’s biggest damage has been to internal morale.

Why it matters

A company offering its most generous buyouts ever to avoid layoffs, while facing accusations that police misused its product for personal surveillance, shows how reputational crises can reshape a startup’s workforce even before regulators or courts weigh in.