Last November, Oakland County Commission Chair David Woodward flew to Flock Group’s Atlanta headquarters with two sheriff’s office employees. Flock picked up the tab — flights, hotel, meals. Five months later, Woodward presided over a 13–4 vote approving Flock’s “Drones as First Responders” pilot program, then received formal authority to sign the contract himself. Several commissioners told WXYZ-TV’s 7 Investigators they had no idea the trip happened before they voted. The chair of the board greenlighting a surveillance deal had already accepted a vendor-funded visit to that vendor’s home turf — and told nobody.
The Meeting That Silenced the Room
What followed at the April 8 commission meeting set off a chain of events that residents are still fighting to reverse.
Hundreds of Oakland County residents packed the April 8 commission meeting to speak against the Flock drone contract. They never got the chance — not before it mattered. Commissioner Angela Powell moved public comment to the end of the agenda, and Woodward accepted the change via voice vote. When Commissioner Charlie Cavell requested a roll-call vote to put names on the record, Woodward refused. The drone pilot passed. Then residents waited. “Decisions that affect millions of people should not be made this way.” — Justine Galbraith
Stretching past three hours and deep into the night, more than 50 speakers eventually addressed the board. They raised:
- Privacy concerns
- Racial profiling risks
- Flock’s documented history of sharing data with ICE in other jurisdictions
- Hacking vulnerabilities
The ACLU of Michigan had already urged a no vote by letter. Not a single person spoke in favor of the deal. Four Democrats — Charlie Cavell, Ann Erickson Gault, Kristen Nelson, and Yolanda Smith-Charles — voted against it. More than 50 speakers lined up, every one opposed, and none was heard before the vote passed.
Free Trip, $2.5 Million Contract
The deal’s structure raises questions about who actually benefits from a “free” trial.
Flock’s pitch follows a familiar freemium playbook — the nine-month pilot starts at zero cost, but the original contract included automatic rollover into a two-year, $2.5 million deal unless the county opted out. An amendment later removed that clause, restricted drone use to calls for service and search-and-rescue, and kept data with the sheriff’s office. Critics argue the original language would have let Flock own and market collected data — which explains the generosity of a “free” trial. Think of it as a streaming service that offers free access in exchange for something far more valuable than your credit card number.
“An undisclosed, all-expense-paid trip from The Flock Group is exactly why stronger ethics and financial disclosure policies are needed in Oakland County.” — Commissioner Kristen Nelson
When pressed about the Atlanta trip, Woodward called it “doing his homework” and dismissed the emerging recall campaign as a “ridiculous stunt,” according to WXYZ. Recall organizers Mike Flores and Justine Galbraith see a pattern, citing prior scrutiny over Woodward’s undisclosed consulting work with companies including Sheetz. The Oakland County Election Commission approved recall petition language in late April, as reported by Oakland County 115. Organizers now need roughly 9,000 valid signatures from District 1 voters in Royal Oak, Troy, and Birmingham to trigger a recall election. Whether that threshold gets met, the surveillance deal — free trials, funded site visits, fine print — is no longer hidden.
