After several weeks of discussions that saw dozens of residents speak out against their use, the Stoughton City Council voted unanimously at its Tuesday, July 28 meeting to cancel its two-year contract with Flock Safety cameras. Stoughton is the latest Dane County municipality to cancel a camera surveillance contract with Flock. The city had a contract to lease cameras that had been set to expire in December of 2027. City attorney Rick Manthe said the agreement does not allow for early termination, so the city would need to buy out the remainder of the contract. The city’s data would then be deleted and the cameras disabled. On Thursday, Mayor Tim Swadley told the Hub the cameras are now disabled. Stoughton Police Chief Brandon Hill said at the meeting that representatives from Flock told him the city could not get a full refund on the two-year contract, nor a termination of the second year at no cost. “We’ve already paid the $12,500 (for the first year) we would pay the remaining $12,500 (for the second year), they would come and get their cameras, deactivate accounts, and it would be done,” he said. Residents spoke again Monday about concerns about the company’s use of facial recognition software, violating privacy rights, and the possibility of data being misused by a third party used by the company. In a presentation to the council last month, Hill said the department has been using Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) cameras since 2019, and asked council members to allow the department to continue using them. He said the department formerly had a contract with a company that was going out of business, so they switched to Flock, a competitor. Hill said the cameras do not capture personal information and do not use facial recognition, and that data