Last year, police surveillance startup Flock Safety hired the mayor of a California city with over 200,000 residents to promote its products. But the mayor, Ulises Cabrera of Moreno Valley, now claims Flock wrongfully terminated him, partly because he refused to use his position as mayor to benefit Flock, according to a lawsuit Cabrera filed against Flock in November 2024.
Backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Flock has grown to a $3.5 billion valuation thanks to its sales of license plate recognition technology across the U.S. (It also recently expanded into drones.) But the lawsuit raises concerns about the influence of private companies on elected officials.
Flock categorically denies all of Cabrera’s allegations and says its hire of a sitting mayor complies with California’s conflict-of-interest regulations. Cabrera didn’t respond to a request for comment from TechCrunch as of press time.
The lawsuit, first reported on by surveillance industry publication IPVM, states that Cabrera worked as a Community Engagement Manager for Flock from February to June 2024. Cabrera has been mayor of Moreno Valley since 2022, although the position is part-time, according to local newspaper Press-Enterprise.
A Flock job posting for this position says it comes with a salary of $100,000 – $140,000 plus additional stock options. It is intended to “guide law enforcement customers” through the public procurement process “in collaboration with the Sales team,” the job description states. During his time at Flock, Moreno gave presentations promoting Flock’s technology to at least two city council meetings well outside his jurisdiction, one in Whitewater, Kansas and another in Mammoth Lakes, California, according to public meeting notes.
But around two weeks after Cabrera began working for Flock, a Flock employee allegedly requested that Cabrera “use his position as Mayor of Moreno Valley to benefit the company,” Cabrera’s suit reads. Concerned about the ethical and legal implications, Cabrera claims he forwarded the request to his legal counsel while copying the Flock employee, who allegedly began “exhibiting retaliatory behavior” immediately afterwards. Cabrera’s suit does not go into further detail about what kind of request Flock allegedly made.
“Disturbing to see claims that this company would pressure staff to unethically misuse a government position,” Albert Fox Cahn, founder and executive direc …