Flock Safety announces mandatory safeguards and reduced data retention amid privacy concerns

Flock Safety, a provider of automated license-plate reader cameras used by law-enforcement agencies in 49 states, announced Thursday that it will tighten its platform to address privacy concerns and documented misuse. The company said new rules will require all police customers to use an audit tool that flags abnormal search behavior, automatically locking out users pending internal review. Data retention will be cut from 30 days to seven, except when the information is preserved as evidence linked to a case number. Users must now enter a code from their records-management system tying each query to a specific case, with emergency overrides flagged for later review. Agencies will also be able to restrict which offense categories outside jurisdictions may search, allowing them to block queries related to immigration enforcement.

CEO Garrett Langley said the changes are intended to make previously optional safeguards mandatory by Jan. 1 and to give cities “control to use the system in a manner consistent with community values.”

Civil-rights groups expressed skepticism. The ACLU called the shorter retention period “a step in the right direction” but described the other measures as “retreads” of inadequate safety protocols. Robert Frommer, a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, labeled the updates “window dressing” and argued that search decisions should be made by judges with warrants. Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, a law professor, said the revisions are “better than the opposite” but urged continued democratic oversight and judicial checks.

More than 50 agencies have canceled, suspended or refused contracts with Flock since the start of the year, according to a tracker maintained by the activist group DeFlock. In Congress, Republican lawmakers have introduced at least two bills to limit the technology’s use. Law-enforcement experts noted that concerns about “curiosity searches” are longstanding, and emphasized that balancing effective policing with privacy rights typically depends on departmental policies rather than vendor changes.

Flock, based in Atlanta, highlights success stories such as locating missing seniors and aiding violent-crime investigations, while critics point to high-profile incidents of misuse, including nearly 50 cases of officers using the system for personal tracking and a recent firing of six Savannah police officers for unauthorized searches.