By Devin Fry
FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) – Fargo and West Fargo paid a combined $232,500 to license-plate-reading camera company Flock Safety in 2025 alone, according to invoices, purchase orders and city accounting records obtained through open records requests.
The figures come as both cities continue to expand their use of the Atlanta-based company’s camera and video surveillance systems, with contracts showing the cost is far from a one-time expense.
What Fargo paid
The City of Fargo paid Flock Safety $133,000 in 2025, according to the city’s own accounts-payable records. The payments include:
- $100,000 for license-plate-reading cameras, long-range cameras and video camera service. The invoice is labeled “Year 2” of a 24-month contract term, meaning the city’s first-year payment happened before 2025 and is not included in this total.
- $33,000 for video integration hardware and software, funded through a Project Safe Neighborhoods grant. City documents show this portion of the contract requires a recurring annual payment of $32,300 going forward.
Valley News Live requested copies of all contracts, agreements, amendments, and related purchase records between the City of Fargo and Flock Safety concerning Flock cameras or automated license plate reader (ALPR) systems. The city has so far provided purchase orders, invoices, and internal emails.
What West Fargo paid
West Fargo paid Flock Safety $99,500 in 2025, city accounting records show. That payment covered the first year of a 24-month contract for 30 license-plate-reading cameras and related software, signed by Police Chief Pete Nielsen in November 2024.
Records show $32,982 of that payment came from a Project Safe Neighborhoods grant, with the remaining $66,518 charged to the police department’s budget.
West Fargo provided the signed contract for its Flock Safety agreement. That contract shows the price does not stay flat: starting in year two, the city owes $90,000 annually to keep the system running.
West Fargo signed a second, expanded contract with Flock Safety in November 2025, adding more cameras and features, including additional license-plate readers, video cameras and an intersection camera system. That deal’s first-year cost was $102,350 and was not billed until February 2026, so it is not included in the city’s 2025 total.
According to the signed contract, that second agreement carries its own recurring cost of $94,250 annually starting after its first year.
Between the two cities, records confirm at least $232,500 was paid to Flock Safety in 2025. Neither city’s full, current contract costs are completely known.
The spending comes as Fargo’s Flock camera network, 26 cameras in all, including 21 fixed license-plate readers and five pan-tilt-zoom cameras downtown along Broadway, has already drawn public pushback.
Valley News Live has previously reported that Fargo police confirmed those PTZ cameras are equipped with an AI tracking feature called “Guardian Mode,” capable of locking onto and following a moving person or vehicle, though the department says that feature remains turned off.
Dozens of protesters gathered in Fargo on Aug. 15 to raise concerns about camera surveillance and data privacy, part of a wider national debate that has led more than two dozen cities to cancel their Flock contracts altogether.
This story will be updated as more records are received.
