# Columbia County Pauses Flock Cameras

Columbia County, New York, unanimously approved a three-month moratorium on its Flock Safety cameras and plans to ask the company to disable them; county officials said they will hood the cameras if they remain active. The county’s 2024 contract with Flock covers 10 license plate reader cameras. The pause gives the county and contractor a window to address concerns about data ownership, camera-placement agreements, and access policies; unresolved concerns could lead the county to extend the moratorium or pursue a ban.

- Flock Safety should address the county’s stated contract and oversight concerns during the moratorium, including data ownership, placement agreements, and access policies.
- Public agencies procuring license plate reader systems can use this dispute as a prompt to review how contracts define data control, access, camera placement, and suspension or shutdown arrangements.
- The possibility of an extended pause or ban creates uncertainty for the existing deployment and may inform how agencies and contractors structure future public-safety camera procurements.

**Jurisdictions:** sled
**Industries:** Public Safety, Information Technology
**Topics:** Digital Infrastructure
**Published:** November 11, 2026

### Government Entities
- Columbia County Board of Supervisors
- Columbia County Sheriff's Office
- New Lebanon Town Board

### Vendors
- Flock Safety (prime contractor)

### Key Quotes
> I do believe if we can't fix the language the way it's written, then this moratorium should become a ban.
> — Tistrya Houghtling, New Lebanon Supervisor

### Sources
- [Columbia County enacts three-month moratorium on Flock cameras](https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/columbia-county-enacts-three-month-221648255.html) - Yahoo