Last 12 months, police surveillance startup Flock Safety employed the mayor of a California metropolis with over 200,000 residents to advertise its merchandise. But the mayor, Ulises Cabrera of Moreno Valley, now claims Flock wrongfully terminated him, partly as a result of he refused to make use of his place as mayor to learn Flock, based on a lawsuit Cabrera filed in opposition to Flock in November 2024.
Backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Flock has grown to a $3.5 billion valuation because of its gross sales of license plate recognition know-how throughout the U.S. (It additionally just lately expanded into drones.) But the lawsuit raises issues concerning the affect of personal firms on elected officers.
Flock categorically denies all of Cabrera’s allegations and says its rent of a sitting mayor complies with California’s conflict-of-interest rules. Cabrera didn’t reply to a request for remark from TechCrunch as of press time.
The lawsuit, first reported on by surveillance trade publication IPVM, states that Cabrera labored as a Community Engagement Manager for Flock from February to June 2024. Cabrera has been mayor of Moreno Valley since 2022, though the place is part-time, based on native newspaper Press-Enterprise.
A Flock job posting for this place says it comes with a wage of $100,000 – $140,000 plus extra inventory choices. It is meant to “information legislation enforcement clients” via the general public procurement course of “in collaboration with the Sales crew,” the job description states. During his time at Flock, Moreno gave shows selling Flock’s know-how to at the very least two metropolis council conferences nicely exterior his jurisdiction, one in Whitewater, Kansas and one other in Mammoth Lakes, California, based on public assembly notes.
But round two weeks after Cabrera started working for Flock, a Flock worker allegedly requested that Cabrera “use his place as Mayor of Moreno Valley to learn the corporate,” Cabrera’s go well with reads. Concerned concerning the moral and authorized implications, Cabrera claims he forwarded the request to his authorized counsel whereas copying the Flock worker, who allegedly started “exhibiting retaliatory habits” instantly afterwards. Cabrera’s go well with doesn’t go into additional element about what sort of request Flock allegedly made.
“Disturbing to see claims that this firm would stress employees to unethically misuse a authorities place,” Albert Fox Cahn, founder and govt director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, tells TechCrunch. “This provides to the rising physique of proof that American surveillance is fueled by a damaged revolving door between trade and authorities.”
Flock says it confirmed with exterior counsel that using a sitting mayor is authorized below California battle of curiosity rules and that it skilled Cabrera on them. The legislation bars public officers from making choices based mostly on their very own monetary pursuits, together with as workers in non-public firms. But it doesn’t prohibit them from taking non-public sector jobs.
While campaigning for re-election, which he gained in November 2024, Cabrera touted on his marketing campaign web site his earlier vote to fund a citywide Flock system in Moreno Valley (earlier than he began working at Flock), however he didn’t disclose on the web site that he ended up working for Flock afterwards whereas serving as mayor. His LinkedIn at the moment doesn’t point out Flock, both.
Cabrera additionally claims he suffered retaliation for elevating issues that Flock was considerably underreporting the variety of surveillance cameras put in in Carmel-by-the-Sea whereas engaged on a undertaking there. Last February, a separate Forbes investigation discovered that Flock digital camera installations broke legal guidelines in at the very least 5 states, together with by putting in cameras with out getting correct permits from authorities. Flock instructed Forbes that the corporate “operates to the very best of our skills inside the bounds of the legislation.”
Cabrera additionally claims the Flock worker sexually harassed him by rubbing his leg in opposition to his at a convention and disclosing upcoming parental depart. Flock says it categorically denies all of Cabrera’s allegations.
This lawsuit marks the most recent episode in Flock’s latest authorized troubles. In April, a civil rights group sued Flock, arguing that the corporate’s widespread surveillance violates the Fourth Amendment. In September, the Texas Department of Public Safety despatched Flock a stop and desist, claiming it didn’t have the correct license to function in non-public properties and companies.
