OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Less than 24 hours after the Oshkosh Common Council approved the renewal of a contract to allow the city’s police department to use Flock cameras, the council voted 7-0 to rescind that agreement.
Oshkosh Police Chief Dean Smith said Flock lied about the cameras not collecting heat maps of travelers.
Lie stems from a question asked by council member Brad Spanbauer
“My staff advised me that the system does create heat maps. I visually confirmed this this morning,” Smith said to council members during a special meeting Wednesday night. “Because of this misrepresentation, specifically to a question asked by a council member, I can no longer recommend Flock.”
On Tuesday, Brad Spanbauer asked a Flock representative, “Just to be clear, does the system create a heat map of a vehicle’s movement using the multiple aggregated images for a specific searched vehicle?”
The Flock representative responded, “No, that is not available.”
Smith declined to say whether the lie was willful or not, but said it breached his trust.
Some council members apologize to residents for voting in favor
Several council members who voted in favor of the Flock cameras at Tuesday’s meeting apologized for their votes.
“I’m not going to be long-winded about this,” said Joe Stephenson. “I don’t like being lied to.”
Added Deputy Mayor Karl Buelow, “I’m deeply embarrassed and sorry for my recommendation to approve this contract that I made last night.”
Council member Paul Esslinger and Mayor Matt Mugerauer stood by their votes yesterday based on the information they had at the time, but voted to rescind the agreement based on the new information brought forth by Smith.
“I still believe that this can be used for positive forces in the city of Oshkosh,” said Esslinger, referring to the safety cameras. “What I am sad about is that we were given false information.”
Resolution only mentioned “additional information” prior to the meeting
“City staff believes that the additional information received appears to be inconsistent with certain statements made by Flock representatives during the Common Council meeting on April 21, 2026,” the resolution reads.
The Common Council finds that it is in the public interest and in the interests of this legislative body to rescind its prior approval of the Flock Contract in light of the additional information received and reject the agreement with Flock Group Inc.
The Common Council desires to ensure that its decision-making is based on the most complete and accurate information available.
City staff recommends rescission of Resolution 26-164 and rejecting the agreement with Flock Group Inc.
The special meeting began at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the council chambers at City Hall. About one hour later, the Common Council voted unanimously to rescind its prior approval.
Flock Safety said in a statement:
It’s incredibly disappointing to hear that statements made during last evening’s open meeting have been misinterpreted and weaponized by activists. We welcome the opportunity to clarify these points with the council before making any decisions that could limit Oshkosh’s access to a system that, just this week, played a key role in the capture of the Most Wanted murder suspect in Wisconsin.
Tuesday night’s 5-2 vote to renew the contract came after more than two hours of public comment and council discussion.
This has been a controversial issue in Oshkosh in recent weeks. At its March 31 meeting, the council voted 4-3 to delay a decision on the measure after about three hours of discussion. About 12 public commenters raised privacy concerns at that meeting.
The resolution approved a renewal of Oshkosh’s agreement with Flock for its 25 existing safety cameras. The contract pays Flock $163,500 across two years. The Oshkosh Common Council previously approved agreements with Flock in 2022 and 2025 with little pushback.
The Oshkosh Police Department has previously said Flock cameras help find wanted crime suspects — and there are multiple documented cases in recent months that support this claim.
