West St. Paul Suspends Flock Safety Camera Contract, Begins Removing Cameras
Published: August 10th, 2026.
WEST SAINT PAUL MN: The City of West St. Paul is suspending its contract with Flock Safety and removing the company’s automated license plate reader cameras from the city, according to a statement from City Manager Nate Burkett.
The decision is effective immediately, with city crews beginning to take down the cameras Monday. The city expects all of the cameras to be removed within a week.
Burkett said the decision was influenced by feedback from community members and members of the West St. Paul City Council, as well as a review of how the police department used the system.
According to Burkett, the review found no indication that West St. Paul police used the cameras for anything other than legitimate local law enforcement purposes.
“This decision is not a reflection on our police officers or on their leadership,” Burkett said. “They did their jobs the right way, and they used this tool the right way.”
Instead, Burkett said concerns center on the technology itself and whether the community sufficiently understands and trusts the system.
“Public trust is the precondition for a tool like this, not an afterthought,” Burkett said.
The city entered the Flock Safety program as a trial. The cameras are automated license plate readers capable of capturing vehicle information that can be used by law enforcement during investigations.
Burkett acknowledged that removing the technology could make some police work more difficult, including identifying people suspected of committing crimes or locating vulnerable missing people. However, he said the concerns surrounding public trust ultimately outweighed those benefits.
“On balance, I have concluded that carrying forward a system the community does not yet trust costs this city more than it returns,” Burkett said.
Any future decision to bring the technology back to West St. Paul will be left to the City Council, according to Burkett.
“We tried it. We learned from it. And this is the right call for West St. Paul right now,” he said.