Key facts
- Flock Safety is implementing mandatory changes to its license plate reader technology to address concerns over police misuse.
- New safeguards include mandatory audit tools to flag abnormal search behavior and a reduced data retention window from 30 days to seven.
- Law enforcement agencies must link searches to specific cases, with overrides flagged for review.
- Agencies can restrict information shared with other jurisdictions to specific offense types.
- The company has set a January 1 deadline for law enforcement to implement these new safeguards.
Flock Safety, a company that has built a network of cameras across the U.S. allowing law enforcement to conduct billions of license plate scans monthly, is implementing new safeguards in response to public backlash and documented abuses. CEO Garrett Langley admitted the company was too slow to address issues of police misuse of its tracking capabilities.
The new measures, which must be implemented by January 1, include mandatory audit tools to flag "abnormal activity" by officers, which will result in automatic suspension pending review. The company is also reducing the default data retention period for license plate scans from 30 days to seven, though agencies can opt for longer periods if tied to specific investigations. Furthermore, law enforcement agencies will be able to restrict the information shared with other agencies to specific offense types, such as stolen vehicles or missing persons cases, rather than providing unfettered access to all scans.
These changes come after reports that Flock's system had been used to target immigrants or individuals seeking abortions, sometimes in violation of state laws. Privacy experts, such as Chris Gilliard, question the efficacy of these safeguards, arguing that networked cameras are incompatible with a free society. Robert Frommer of the Institute of Justice criticized the changes as "window dressing," asserting that police departments still retain the ultimate decision-making power over data retention and search parameters.