The controversial license plate reader company Flock Safety is implementing new policies to address the misuse of its technology by law enforcement, following significant backlash regarding the rapid deployment of its cameras across the United States. According to reporting by The Record, the company announced on Thursday that it will expand its “Audit Assistance” feature, which monitors abnormal activity within police departments using its technology and flags it for review. All customers must adopt this auditing feature by the end of the year, and any user account will be automatically suspended during the review process.
Additionally, Flock will now require officers to input case codes related to investigations when conducting searches—a feature that was optional since its introduction in July 2025, although it can still be bypassed in emergencies. These changes come in the wake of reports that officers have misused Flock’s license plate readers for personal tracking purposes.
Recent incidents include a police officer in New Bedford, Massachusetts, who was accused of stalking an ex-girlfriend using the technology, and three sheriff’s deputies in Georgia who were arrested for similar offenses. A Washington Post investigation revealed that at least 50 law enforcement officers have faced charges for misusing Flock’s tools.
While Flock has framed these new measures as a commitment to safety and privacy, Chad Marlow, senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, criticized the announcement as largely a public relations effort. He acknowledged a proposed reduction in the data retention period from 30 days to seven days—except when data is needed as evidence—as a potentially positive change, but noted that many other measures are merely reiterations of previous inadequate safety protocols.
The new rules aim to address concerns regarding the extensive data collected by Flock’s cameras, which can be accessed across different jurisdictions. The company has stated that clients can now restrict the circumstances under which they share information from their cameras with other agencies, such as allowing searches in missing person cases but not for immigration enforcement.
However, it remains unclear how the new system will prevent officers from abusing their access by misrepresenting the reasons for their searches. Marlow pointed out that similar measures have failed in the past, as users could easily circumvent the requirement to input the purpose of their searches.
Founded in Atlanta, Georgia, just a decade ago, Flock has secured contracts with over 7,000 organizations nationwide and established a network of approximately 120,000 license plate readers. Despite its growth, the company faces widespread opposition from civil liberties groups concerned about privacy erosion, leading to the cancellation of contracts in several liberal cities, including Los Angeles, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Eugene, Oregon.
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