Valley News Live reported that the Cass County Sheriff's Office paid Flock Safety $37,900 for license plate readers and pan-tilt-zoom cameras placed in Horace and Harwood. The figures come from a signed contract and an invoice the station obtained through an open records request.
What did the county buy?
The Sheriff's Office signed the contract on Oct. 29, 2024. Chief Deputy Dean Haaland signed it. The order form includes:
- Six Flock Safety Falcon license plate readers
- Four Flock Safety Condor pan-tilt-zoom video cameras
- A 30-day data retention period
The first-year cost is $37,900, followed by a recurring $30,000 a year. The stated contract total is $67,900. An invoice shows the Sheriff's Office was billed the full $37,900 in December 2025.
Where are the cameras?
Email records show the Sheriff's Office worked with Horace Mayor Jeff Trudeau on placement. In a Sept. 10, 2025 email, Sgt. Joe Crawford listed three spots, all on Cass Highway 17: at 76th Avenue South (a plate reader), at Casey's (a pan-tilt-zoom camera) and at Liberty Lane (a plate reader). The cameras sit on city-owned light poles and run on solar power. Trudeau approved the pole placements the same day.
In Harwood, a Sept. 11, 2025 email from City Auditor Chayla Hansen told the Sheriff's Office the city "approves the installation of the Flock Camera system." The records do not specify camera locations in Harwood.
Are the Horace cameras coming down?
The Horace City Council voted 3-1 to remove the Flock Safety cameras from the city, after a debate over privacy and oversight. Councilmember Chad Chalmers raised concerns about who would control the system in the future. Sheriff Jesse Jahner defended his department's handling of the technology and pointed to internal accountability measures already in place.
Valley News Live ties that vote to the Horace cameras. It does not say what happens to the Harwood cameras.
What changes for drivers?
The Horace cameras are fixed at roadside locations on Highway 17. Residents in Horace who want to see where plate readers are in their area can check the camera map.
The Sheriff's Office also runs in-car plate readers from Axon Enterprise, which the records treat as separate from the Flock system. Those are built into patrol vehicles rather than fixed in place. Two Axon contracts cover Sheriff's Office equipment: a five-year, nearly $2 million deal for Taser devices, body cameras and related gear, and a 48-month, $79,626.24 deal signed in October 2024 for six in-car camera systems. Each of those systems includes Axon's plate-reading license. Valley News Live says only part of that spending is tied to plate readers. For how these systems work, read how plate readers work.
What happens next?
The next number to watch is the $30,000 annual cost the county has contracted to keep the Horace and Harwood cameras running.