News, research, FOIA documents, and analysis on Flock Safety.
Durango City Councilor Shirley Gonzales announced a proposed 'Protect our Privacy Ordinance' requiring judicial warrants for accessing Flock ALPR data, limiting data retention to 72 hours, and creating a community oversight board. Developed with ACLU of Colorado and the Colorado Immigrants' Rights Coalition, the ordinance could become a model for local ALPR regulation.
Stanwood, which deactivated its 14 Flock cameras in May 2025 after a court ruling that ALPR data is subject to public disclosure, plans to reactivate them after Washington's new Driver Privacy Act (SB 6002) exempts ALPR data from public disclosure. The city is evaluating camera locations for compliance with the new law's restrictions on placement near schools and healthcare facilities.
Troy's $78,000 annual Flock contract automatically renewed despite the all-Democrat city council's opposition. The council president directed the city auditor to withhold payments, while the mayor declared a 'public safety emergency' to keep 26 cameras operational. The dispute highlights how Flock's auto-renewal contract terms can bypass democratic oversight.
Chesterfield County's proposed $2.3 billion budget includes $60,000 for maintaining 141 Flock cameras and over $260,000 for three new intelligence officers to interpret ALPR data. Residents and civil liberties groups are pushing back against the expansion, while prior reporting found at least five Virginia counties shared Flock data with federal immigration enforcement.
The Bluegrass Institute's CEO and the Institute for Justice's legislative counsel argue that Kentucky lacks any warrant requirement, restrictions on outside agency access, or meaningful oversight of license plate reader technology. They call on the state legislature to enact basic privacy guardrails as Louisville and Lexington expand ALPR deployments.
Governor Bob Ferguson signed SB 6002, called 'the strongest ALPR bill in the country,' into law. The Driver Privacy Act limits camera use to felonies and gross misdemeanors, mandates 21-day data deletion, bans cameras near schools and healthcare facilities, prohibits immigration enforcement use, and makes violations a gross misdemeanor. The bill passed with strong bipartisan support.
Arizona HB 2917 would require a 65% supermajority voter approval before any government entity can deploy a mass surveillance network including ALPRs. The bill mandates 3-minute data deletion for non-matches, bans surveillance near places of worship and political protests, and passed committee with bipartisan support.
University of Virginia data science professor Jess Reia examines how ALPR cameras in thousands of US cities are now integrated with AI to create vast searchable databases, enabling mass location tracking with no comprehensive federal data protection laws. The article highlights specific risks to immigrants, transgender individuals, and abortion seekers.
Flock Safety left two cameras installed and covered in Evanston for six months after the city terminated its contract in August 2025, only removing them after the Evanston RoundTable inquired about their continued presence. The delayed removal mirrors similar situations in other cities where Flock dragged its feet on camera removals.
An investigative analysis of Hillsborough County, Florida's speed camera contracts reveals that RedSpeed bundles 'Flock Wing Licenses' directly into school zone speed camera agreements, feeding continuous HD video into Flock's national surveillance network. The contracts contain zero data governance provisions or privacy protections, meaning communities purchasing traffic enforcement equipment unknowingly feed footage into a mass surveillance platform.
Dunwoody City Council unanimously deferred its Flock911 contract for the second consecutive month after an internal technology audit revealed concerning security gaps including breach history, missing multi-factor authentication, and devices running unsupported Android 8. A resident's 35 public records requests exposed data-sharing with 1,200 agencies.
EFF documents how Flock Safety cameras are being used for traffic enforcement despite the company's explicit claim that its ALPRs are 'not used to enforce traffic violations.' A Georgia State Patrol officer ticketed a motorcyclist for holding a cell phone based on Flock footage, and Flock now partners with six traffic enforcement companies.
Using Dunwoody, Georgia PD audit logs, FBI criminal complaints, and a Flock training video recorded on a live police account, this investigation systematically debunks Flock Safety's three core campaign promises: local control, no federal access, and no employee access. Evidence shows Flock employees conducted hundreds of searches on live police networks, and subsequent audit log redactions obscured the activity.
Berkeley City Council delayed a vote on a $2 million Flock Safety expansion — described as 'the largest surveillance expansion in the city's history' — until June 2 after too many residents sought to speak. The proposal included 52 ALPR cameras, Flock drones, and a system to feed live business video into police headquarters.
Zevin Asset Management and 17 co-filers are pushing Home Depot's board of directors to audit how the retail giant uses and shares Flock Safety ALPR data from its parking lots, citing evidence that federal immigration agents accessed Flock data through local law enforcement intermediaries. The shareholder proposal will go before investors at the May 21 proxy meeting.
UW-Madison students staged a 'No Flock, No ICE' protest demanding the university remove its eight Flock Safety cameras, citing concerns that camera data could be accessed by Wisconsin sheriffs who have 287(g) agreements with ICE. The protest follows the Academic Staff Assembly's resolution calling on UWPD to cancel the Flock contract.
ABC7 Chicago's I-Team investigates the growing debate over Flock camera use in Illinois, highlighting Arlington Heights as the first municipality in the state to include financial penalties in its Flock contract for unauthorized data sharing. The report documents how more than 450 Illinois law enforcement agencies use Flock, and how a state audit flagged unauthorized data sharing with federal authorities.
Dane County's Public Protection and Judiciary Committee voted 4-1 to defund Flock Safety cameras from the sheriff's budget after more than 40 residents testified against mass surveillance. The $80,000 annual program covering 26 cameras faces termination if the full County Board approves the resolution.
The Kentucky Attorney General ruled that Bowling Green Police can withhold Flock Safety camera locations from public records requests, determining that ALPR location records qualify for law enforcement exemption under state open records law. The ruling sets a troubling precedent for transparency around surveillance infrastructure.
An Illinois school district denied a child's enrollment based on ALPR 'pattern of life' data from Thomson Reuters CLEAR showing the family's vehicle at Chicago addresses overnight, despite the parent providing full residency documentation. The case highlights how ALPR data from networks like Flock's flows to commercial data brokers and gets used far beyond law enforcement.
A 65-year-old Oakland nurse was pulled over at gunpoint by Alameda County Sheriff's deputies after a Flock camera flagged her plates as connected to a crime. Thieves had swapped her plates in a tactic called 'cold-plating' to evade ALPR surveillance, highlighting a critical vulnerability where criminals swap plates to avoid detection while creating dangerous encounters for innocent vehicle owners.
Fort Collins and Boulder are both considering dropping their Flock camera programs after public pushback, following Denver's decision not to renew. Boulder renegotiated its contract to allow 30-day termination without penalties. A Colorado Senate bill (SB 26-070) requiring warrants for ALPR searches older than 3 days is advancing through the legislature.
South Pasadena's city council voted 4-1 to prematurely end one of two Flock contracts covering 14 cameras over privacy concerns and illegal data sharing with federal immigration agents. A second contract covering 13 cameras will be allowed to expire in five months, as the city seeks alternative surveillance vendors.
After Verona voted to end its Flock contract, the company refused to remove cameras for months, claiming no available technicians while simultaneously sending sales reps to pitch new contracts. Federal border patrol accessed Verona's data 3,200 times despite officials claiming federal sharing was disabled. Mayor Luke Diaz said the delayed removal proved 'we are the product.'
Denver's $150,000 Axon contract to replace Flock advances through committee, featuring 50 cameras (half of Flock's 100), 21-day data retention, no national database, and Denver owning all data. Axon pledged to fight any subpoenas in court. Council members still expressed concerns about the fundamental concept of mass license plate surveillance regardless of vendor.
FOIA documents reveal Oklahoma City PD has zero transparency reporting, no internal usage reporting, and no SOPs for their 90 Flock cameras. An internal memo states: 'There is no transparency reporting or internal usage reporting in our policies, SOPs, directives, training or guidance materials.' The $270,000/year contract lacks any oversight mechanisms.
Richmond's City Council voted 4-3 to extend its Flock contract and reactivate cameras that had been off since October 2025, when police discovered federal agencies had unauthorized access. Flock agreed to a $290,000 penalty for unauthorized data disclosures and disabled the national lookup feature for all California agencies. Vehicle theft had risen 33% while cameras were off.
Although Denver's city contract with Flock ends March 31, private cameras leased to businesses, HOAs, and neighborhood groups will continue operating. Denver police can currently search any private Flock customer's data if the customer opts into sharing. The article highlights how private deployments create a parallel surveillance network that persists even when cities officially cut ties.
Op-ed opposing Flock expansion in Berkeley, citing the Denver false theft accusation case and California SB 34 violations. Reveals Berkeley PD's internal audit found external agencies searching their data using terms like 'ICE' and 'CBP,' potentially violating Berkeley's sanctuary city resolution. Berkeley City Council votes March 24.
The editorial board argues Boulder's Flock contract renewal needs rigorous City Council scrutiny, noting Denver ended its contract and Longmont paused over privacy concerns. Warns that mass surveillance data could be misused by hostile government actors and federal immigration agencies.
EFF and MuckRock's annual Sunshine Week awards singled out Flock Safety for using bogus trademark claims against DeFlock.me and hiring a takedown company to remove HaveIBeenFlocked.com from the internet. Taunton PD charged ACLU $1.8 million for audit logs. The awards highlight Flock's pattern of using legal intimidation to silence critics and suppress public accountability tools.
The ACLU of Wisconsin endorses a letter from four Milwaukee Common Council members demanding urgent Flock surveillance reforms after multiple stalking cases. Calls for independent auditing, ICE data-sharing protections, transparent reporting, public hearings, and adoption of a Community Control Over Police Surveillance (CCOPS) framework.
Legal analysis critiquing the Schmidt v. City of Norfolk ruling that upheld 176 Flock cameras as constitutional. Argues the court misapplied Carpenter v. United States by treating analysis rather than collection as the constitutional trigger. Warns that if the reasoning stands, governments will be free to collect and analyze large-scale location data without warrants.
Tulsa Police logged at least 38 Flock searches tied to protest activity in 2025, including anti-ICE demonstrations, a pro-Palestinian rally, and No Kings protests, according to EFF data analysis. City Councilor Laura Bellis raised First and Fourth Amendment concerns, while TPD claims cameras are only used 'reactively' to investigate crimes at protests.
A statewide investigation documenting police misuse of Flock cameras across Wisconsin's 221 agencies. Officers routinely used vague justifications like 'investigation' or just '.' when logging searches, undermining audit oversight. Four Milwaukee aldermen cited 'alarming systemic oversight gaps' after multiple misuse cases, and MPD has since restricted Flock access to its Criminal Investigations Bureau.
First-person account by the Denver woman falsely accused of package theft based on Flock ALPR footage. Describes the 'horror of having to prove one's innocence' over two weeks, gathering GPS, video, and other evidence to clear her name. Argues Colorado lawmakers must implement guardrails on mass surveillance technology.
Connecticut's HB 5449 would reduce ALPR data retention to 7 days, ban use for immigration enforcement or investigating abortion and transgender healthcare seekers, and restrict data sharing to neighboring states. The bill received overwhelming public support and is expected to pass this session.
Washington's SB 6002 (Driver Privacy Act) passed both chambers and was delivered to Governor Ferguson. The bill establishes the state's first ALPR regulatory framework: 21-day data retention, ban on ICE access, prohibition of cameras near schools, churches, courts, and food banks, with gross misdemeanor penalties for violations and immediate effect upon signing.
Alsip Hazelgreen Oak Lawn School District 126 used Thomson Reuters CLEAR license plate reader data to deny a mother's enrollment application, claiming cameras showed her car at Chicago addresses overnight. The mother had loaned her car to a relative that summer. The district holds a $41,904 ALPR contract, illustrating how license plate surveillance expands beyond law enforcement into everyday life.
After the Josue Ayala misuse scandal, Milwaukee PD implemented a new audit system that flags frequently-searched plates, restricted Flock access to the Criminal Investigations Bureau, and now requires captain sign-off. The MPD Risk Manager admitted: 'We didn't really understand the gaps in that audit system until something slipped through the cracks.'
Virginia legislators raised concerns over a State Crime Commission report revealing widespread noncompliance with the state's ALPR law. Twenty-one percent of agencies kept data longer than the 21-day limit, 30 agencies shared data with federal or out-of-state agencies in violation of state law, and 26 agencies had no ALPR policy at all. Senate Majority Leader Surovell warned legislators 'might have to reconsider the entire program.'
404 Media breaks down the full surveillance pipeline from Flock cameras to ICE enforcement, detailing how Palantir powers ICE's ELITE tool for neighborhood raids, how Flock's 4,800+ police department network enables warrantless tracking, and how Ring cameras are becoming networked AI surveillance systems.
Denver City Council considers a $150K one-year Axon contract to replace Flock, with key improvements: 21-day data retention instead of 30, no national database, and an invite-only sharing system requiring partner agencies to abide by specific rules. The mayor's office requested a delay until March 18 to finalize contract details.
San Jose City Council approved policy changes for its 474 Flock cameras, reducing data retention from one year to 30 days and banning cameras from recording vehicles near houses of worship and reproductive health clinics. The EFF/ACLU lawsuit challenging San Jose's warrantless ALPR surveillance remains pending.
Palo Alto's city auditor Baker Tilly recused itself from a planned Flock camera audit due to a conflict of interest — the firm also provides services to Flock Safety. The recusal delays oversight at a critical moment when multiple Bay Area cities are discovering unauthorized federal access to their Flock data.
Two bipartisan bills regulating ALPRs await Iowa House consideration, backed by an ACLU of Iowa and University of Iowa Technology Law Clinic report documenting over 500 ALPR devices in Iowa with little oversight. House File 2161 would require permanent deletion of captured data within 30 days and restrict access after 24 hours to warrant or subpoena only.
Business Insider reviewed police records, lawsuits, and local news and found at least a dozen cases where Flock cameras misread plates, leading to innocent people being stopped at gunpoint, jailed, or mauled by police dogs. Key cases include a Toledo man attacked by a K-9 after a misread '7' as '2' and a Tennessee family held at gunpoint with a 3-year-old. Flock refuses to publish its misread rate.
Michigan state representatives introduced bipartisan House Bills 5492 and 5493 to regulate ALPR use, limiting data retention to 14 days and requiring warrants for data disclosure. The ACLU of Michigan praised the bipartisan support. The bills follow Bay City's 6-2 vote to reject a Flock contract.
Currier argues Flock cameras are 'dystopian nightmares' communities should reject. He cites Mountain View discovering 17 months of unauthorized statewide data access and Lenexa police allegedly misusing ALPR to target a critic, concluding that even local safeguards cannot prevent federal government access.
A cross-state investigation documenting how officers in Wisconsin, Florida, Kansas, and Georgia have abused Flock ALPR systems to track romantic partners and ex-partners. Despite growing adoption of the technology, minimal safeguards exist to prevent personal misuse by law enforcement.
Despite promised safeguards, Flock surveillance technology has been repeatedly misused by officers. Milwaukee Officer Josue Ayala stalked two individuals with 179 searches, Greenfield's police chief spied on his ex-wife, and ICE routinely accesses local Flock data for immigration enforcement — all while oversight mechanisms failed to catch any of it.
Kunze opposes Baltimore PD's proposed expansion of CLEAR/Thomson Reuters ALPR access, which would give officers access to 7+ billion plate records spanning a decade. Drawing parallels to Baltimore's rejected aerial surveillance program, she notes ICE has used the same databases and cites ACLU opposition.
Bloomington's council passed 9-0 a resolution calling for greater oversight, transparency, and a pause on Flock expansion. Councilman Rollo warned: 'We're essentially living in a society where total surveillance is the goal... That is the hallmark of a totalitarian state.'
After 50+ public comments, Richmond's council ran out of meeting time without voting. Cameras had been off since October 2025 after discovering the 'national lookup' feature was active without authorization. The contract expired, leaving cameras off by default.
Fortune's national overview of the Flock backlash, reporting on Boston PD and Massachusetts ACLU demanding changes to Flock's user agreement to restrict data sharing, pushing back against Flock's default 'worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free' license.
Connecticut's proposed SB 4 would exempt all ALPR data from FOIA disclosure, cutting off the very public records requests that exposed Flock misuse. The article argues this is a direct response to CT Insider's reporting that revealed immigration enforcement searches of ALPR data in six municipalities, and cites Flock's CEO characterizing public records demands as a 'coordinated attack.'
El Paso's council debated its approximately 150-camera Flock contract but voted 6-2 against ending it, bucking the national trend of cities canceling.
Virginia's survey of ALPR compliance found 21% of agencies kept data beyond the 21-day legal limit, 21 agencies gave continuous out-of-state access, 9 shared with federal agencies (both prohibited), 16% had no ALPR policy, and 35% hadn't notified the public. Nearly a third of agencies didn't even respond.
A Flock ALPR misread a character on a family's license plate, flagging their SUV as stolen. Both parents were handcuffed while their infant was in the vehicle. The officer blamed the error on a license plate frame. After releasing the family, officers accidentally drove away with their keys.
Gibbs Mura and Milberg PLLC filed a class action alleging Flock violated California's ALPR Privacy Act by sharing license plate data with out-of-state agencies. Out-of-state agencies searched SFPD's Flock database 1.6 million times in seven months.
Federal agencies including the FBI, ATF, and GSA accessed El Cerrito's ALPR data without the department's knowledge from installation. Even after safeguards were installed, federal agencies breached the system two more times — USPS Inspection Service and VA Police.
Profiles the DeFlock grassroots movement with at least 15 local anti-Flock groups organizing across the country. At least 30 localities have canceled or paused contracts since early 2025. Flock CEO Garrett Langley called DeFlock a 'terroristic organization.'
An SFPD internal affairs investigation found an unnamed officer used the department's Flock ALPR system to search for his wife's stolen car and posted images on Instagram. The misuse was discovered when an outside agency reported its license plate reader data had been shared on social media.
Milwaukee Officer Josue Ayala ran 179 unauthorized Flock searches — 55 times on a woman he was dating and 124 times on her ex-partner. The misuse wasn't caught by internal monitoring — one victim found their plate on HaveIBeenFlocked.com. Ayala resigned before his court date.
San Jose PD was retaining all ALPR data for one full year, far beyond Flock's stated 30-day default. The police chief asked the City Council to reduce retention to 30 days, confirming that Flock allows departments to quietly extend retention with minimal oversight.
The ACLU argues that while specific license plate numbers should be exempt from public records, aggregate audit data like scan locations, frequency, and search purposes should remain public. The piece addresses HaveIBeenFlocked.com publishing searchable ALPR data and proposes a framework balancing transparency with individual privacy.
Protesters have physically dismantled Flock cameras in at least five states, with one activist in Virginia reportedly destroying at least thirteen cameras. The physical resistance accompanies a broader political movement that has seen 30+ cities cancel contracts. Flock scans over 20 billion plates per month across 5,000+ agencies.
Flock Safety scans over 20 billion license plates per month across 5,000+ agency customers. More than 75% of departments opt in to provide data to the national database, which can be accessed without warrants — making it the largest warrantless location-tracking system in American history.
Ventura County's 'national lookup' feature was toggled back on without authorization after being disabled to comply with California law. In one month, external agencies conducted over 364,000 searches, with 299 queries linked to immigration enforcement. Flock could not explain how the feature was reactivated.
NPR reports at least 30 U.S. cities have canceled or deactivated Flock contracts since early 2025. Flock operates cameras in over 5,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide, but revelations that federal agencies including Border Patrol accessed local data without consent have fueled a nationwide backlash.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation launched its 'Get the Flock Out' campaign in February 2026, providing resources and toolkits for communities to challenge Flock Safety contracts. The campaign coincides with a growing nationwide movement that has seen 30+ localities cancel or pause their Flock agreements.
Amazon's Ring canceled its planned integration with Flock Safety amid backlash over Ring's Super Bowl commercial and growing concerns about Flock's data-sharing with ICE. The partnership would have allowed law enforcement to request video footage from Ring users through Flock's platform.
A unanimous California appeals panel held that failing to post the privacy policy required by SB 34 constitutes cognizable harm even without proof of data misuse. This makes SB 34's $2,500-per-violation damages immediately more enforceable against all California ALPR operators.
After Canyen Ashworth published an op-ed criticizing Lenexa PD, the entire patrol division was mobilized to hunt him using ALPR. The chief issued a BOLO with no charges, declaring 'This is MYOC' — make your own case — instructing officers to find any pretext to stop him. The ACLU called it 'a wanton and disgraceful abuse of power.'
ACLU analysis of 11.4 million Flock searches found over 14% contained only the word 'investigation' as justification. Approximately 20% used vague terms potentially obscuring protest surveillance, immigration enforcement, and personal stalking. Officers were documented self-censoring after exposure.
The Washington Court of Appeals ruled that Flock ALPR images do not implicate constitutional privacy protections, calling ALPR capture a 'momentary observation' equivalent to an officer manually noting a plate number.
Documents obtained by 404 Media showed law enforcement being coached to be deliberately vague about their use of Flock surveillance technology, revealing a systematic culture of opacity around the system's deployment and capabilities.
Despite marketing audit logs as 'immutable' and 'tamper-proof,' Flock stripped officer names, plates, and filters from logs provided to agencies. Over 14% of all searches contained only 'investigation' as justification. Flock's communications chief stated 'it is not Flock's job to police the police.'
The ACLU documented Flock CEO Garrett Langley telling police that critics are 'activists trying to let murderers go free' and calling the DeFlock.me mapping project 'terroristic.' The ACLU criticized Langley for demonizing democratic accountability.
Multiple police departments released unredacted Flock audit logs through public records requests, exposing 2.3+ million license plates and tens of millions of searches. The data was aggregated on HaveIBeenFlocked.com. Flock threatened the site's web hosts and restricted audit log access going forward.
A federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia upheld Norfolk's use of 176 Flock cameras as constitutional, but explicitly warned that further expansion could 'tip' the balance into unconstitutional territory. The Institute for Justice is appealing to the Fourth Circuit, setting up a potential landmark ruling on mass ALPR surveillance.
A Joplin police officer was terminated after an internal investigation found he ran two license plates nearly 395 times over 14 months using the Flock system. The department requested the Missouri State Highway Patrol conduct an independent criminal investigation and implemented monthly audits and policy updates.
Anna Altobello, a former Echols County Sheriff's Office secretary, was arrested by the GBI on eight counts including misuse of license plate data, stalking, and violation of oath of office. She used the sheriff's Flock account to track two people she knew personally for non-law-enforcement purposes.
A comprehensive year-end review documenting how EFF investigations revealed Flock's ALPR network was used to track protesters, facilitate discriminatory policing against Romani communities, and surveil women seeking reproductive healthcare. The investigations sparked federal inquiries and landmark litigation.
Racine County Sheriff's Detective Emil Ortiz was demoted and suspended 10 days without pay after using Flock, CLEAR, and the Wisconsin TIME database dozens of times to spy on his new girlfriend's ex-boyfriend. Despite what many consider criminal misuse, Ortiz was neither fired nor criminally charged.
Flock left livestreams and admin panels for at least 60 AI-enabled Condor cameras exposed to the open internet without password protection. Anyone could watch live feeds, download 30 days of video, change settings, and run diagnostics.
Charlottesville Police Chief Kochis called Flock CEO Langley's email blaming activists 'inappropriate' and 'pouting,' stating 'People have a right to disagree... That's how Democracy works.' The department disconnected from Flock's national network due to ICE concerns.
Kenosha County Sheriff's Deputy Frank McGrath used Flock and the squad-car tracking system Polaris to track a female coworker he had a personal relationship with. He conducted 16 Flock searches in one day and accessed Polaris approximately 40 times while off duty. The victim obtained a Stalking No Contact Order.
A federal judge released the locations of about 600 Flock Safety cameras in the Hampton Roads region as part of the Institute for Justice's pending federal lawsuit. The disclosure was significant because Flock and police departments had previously resisted releasing camera locations.
Flock accidentally exposed training materials revealing it employs overseas gig workers from the Philippines via Upwork to review and classify U.S. surveillance footage for its machine learning algorithms, raising concerns about foreign access to sensitive domestic surveillance data.
Menasha Officer Cristian Morales used Flock while off duty to track his ex-girlfriend, logging 'welfare' as justification. He admitted the searches were driven by 'desperation, bad judgment, combined with a lack of sleep.' Charged with misconduct in public office — a Class I felony carrying up to 3.5 years.
Braselton Police Chief Michael Steffman conducted 2,707 Flock searches in 101 days — 411 of a single plate — to stalk private citizens not under investigation. Twenty percent of searches occurred outside work hours. He also accessed California's Flock data. Resigned one day before arrest on stalking charges.
EFF analysis of 10 months of nationwide Flock search data found more than 50 agencies ran hundreds of searches connected to protest activity. Many searches logged only 'protest' as justification, demonstrating how mass surveillance enables tracking of First Amendment activities without warrants.
Oakland's Public Safety Committee effectively killed a $2.25M Flock contract by voting 2-2, and the Privacy Advisory Commission voted 4-2 against it. However, the full council later approved it 7-1, with roughly two-thirds of public speakers opposed.
Privacy nonprofit Secure Justice sued Oakland, alleging the police department violated SB 34 and a prior settlement agreement by sharing data from 290 Flock cameras with FBI, DEA, and ICE.
Security researchers found Flock cameras run a discontinued Android OS with no security updates since 2021, store images unencrypted, transmit credentials in cleartext, and can be fully accessed via a button sequence on the device. Multiple CVEs were registered including cleartext storage and hardcoded passwords.
Based on statewide public records requests, ACLU-MA found 80+ Massachusetts departments share Flock data with 7,000+ agencies nationwide. Flock's default contract grants a 'worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free' license to disclose agency data -- even when departments restrict sharing.
SIREN (Surveillance Information Resistance and Education Network) filed suit with EFF and ACLU challenging the San Jose Police Department's warrantless ALPR searches under the California Constitution, which provides stronger privacy protections than the federal Fourth Amendment.
A Skagit County judge ruled Flock camera images are public records under Washington's Public Records Act, even when stored by a third-party vendor. The judge found the scope of Flock surveillance was 'so broad and indiscriminate' that the data must be released, prompting multiple cities to shut off cameras.
Security researcher Jon Gaines documented 51 vulnerabilities in Flock cameras, including root access achievable in under 30 seconds. Cameras ran Android 8 (unsupported since 2021) with unlocked bootloaders and hardcoded credentials. A researcher demonstrated planting fabricated footage to trigger police responses against innocent people.
EFF discovered over 80 U.S. law enforcement agencies searched Flock's ALPR network using racial slurs and ethnic stereotypes targeting Romani people. Between June 2024 and October 2025, police conducted hundreds of searches using slurs, often without citing any specific crime.
Senator Ron Wyden and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi requested an FTC investigation into Flock for failing to enforce multi-factor authentication. Researchers found passwords for at least 35 Flock customer accounts stolen via infostealer malware and sold on Russian cybercrime forums.
ACLU of Washington advocates for the Driver Privacy Act, noting Washington has no ALPR regulations despite multiple cities canceling Flock contracts and a court ruling that Flock data are public records.
Flock flagged a father's Ford Fusion as 'associated' with his son, who was wanted on a felony warrant. Police knew the car was registered to the father, but handcuffed him in his driveway anyway. The incident contributed to Redmond's City Council voting to disable all Flock cameras.
Sandy Springs fired Reserve Sergeant Francis Esposito after an investigation revealed he ran license plates using his city Flock login and transferred the data to Signal 8, a company where he also worked. A whistleblower reported the violation, claiming Flock data was used for product beta testing. Investigators concluded Esposito may have violated Georgia corporate espionage laws.
A Columbine Valley officer accused Chrisanna Elser of stealing a package based on Flock camera footage of her Rivian. The officer refused to show her the video and told her to bring evidence to court. She spent weeks compiling evidence before the police chief acknowledged the error and dropped the summons.
The ACLU of Oregon sued the City of Eugene for refusing to disclose the locations of at least 57 Flock cameras. Eugene cited security exemptions to deny the public records request, in contrast to other Oregon cities that disclosed their camera locations without issue.
University of Washington researchers documented how CBP had 'back door' access to at least 10 local agencies' Flock ALPR data without explicit authorization. Over 4,000 lookups were done at the behest of or as informal favors to federal immigration enforcement.
University of Washington researchers documented 'front door,' 'back door,' and 'side door' federal access pathways to Flock data in Washington state. At least 8 agencies enabled direct Border Patrol data sharing and 10+ additional departments had unauthorized 'back door' access.
California AG Rob Bonta sued El Cajon for violating SB 34 by sharing Flock data with 600+ agencies in 26 states and the federal government. This is the first state AG action directly targeting ALPR data-sharing practices.
EFF warned that Flock's Raven gunshot detection product was expanding from detecting gunshots to listening for 'human distress' including screaming, raising serious eavesdropping law concerns.
The Virginia Court of Appeals reversed the Bell ruling, holding police do not need a warrant to access Flock ALPR data. The EFF, ACLU of Virginia, and NACDL filed an amicus brief urging the opposite outcome.
Court documents revealed Johnson County Sheriff's Office used Flock to track a woman who self-managed an abortion, despite publicly characterizing the search as a missing person case. Deputies logged evidence of the woman's abortion and consulted prosecutors about possible charges.
Oakland's volunteer Privacy Advisory Commission voted 4-2 to recommend against Flock. Two commissioners subsequently resigned in protest when the full council overrode their recommendation.
ACLU of Massachusetts resource guide documenting 80+ Massachusetts departments sharing Flock data with agencies in states banning abortion and gender-affirming care, providing templates and toolkits for communities to challenge Flock contracts.
California Governor Newsom vetoed SB 274, which would have imposed stricter privacy requirements on ALPR systems, despite mounting evidence of Flock Safety's unauthorized data sharing with federal and out-of-state agencies. Three states — Arkansas, Idaho, and Virginia — passed new ALPR laws in 2025.
ACLU of Oregon resource page with template letters for residents to send to city councils opposing Flock cameras, part of the organization's broader campaign that also backed the Eugene public records lawsuit.
IPVM found Flock's Falcon camera had a 10% error rate, misread license plate states 1-in-10 times, and regularly misidentified vehicle makes. Syracuse councilors were not informed of these findings before voting to approve the system. Syracuse subsequently moved to terminate its Flock contract.
Comprehensive ACLU analysis of Flock's expansion into video, live feeds, AI search, 'Convoy Search' tracking associations, data broker integration via Nova, the Ring partnership, and corporate surveillance -- building what the ACLU called 'an infrastructure for corporate blacklisting.'
Two members of Congress launched a formal investigation into Flock demanding details of all searches related to ICE, CBP, and abortions. The inquiry focused on Flock's role in enabling invasive surveillance practices that threaten the privacy, safety, and civil liberties of vulnerable Americans.
ACLU of Illinois documented opposition to Flock deployment in Urbana, highlighting the disproportionate impact of ALPR surveillance on Black and Brown communities.
The Institute for Justice launched the Plate Privacy Project, combining nationwide litigation with model legislation to challenge mass ALPR surveillance. The campaign aims to establish Fourth Amendment protections against warrantless license plate tracking and provide legislative templates for cities and states.
After Austin ended its Flock contract, APD found a loophole -- accessing Flock data through neighboring Round Rock and Sunset Valley agencies. EFF noted Austin had 'one of the best ALPR policies in the country, and the program still failed.'
VPM investigation found nearly 3,000 immigration-related searches on Virginia's Flock ALPR network over 12 months. Despite Flock claiming no ICE relationship, CBP conducted a pilot program and local agencies performed thousands of lookups as informal favors for federal immigration enforcement.
VPM found nearly 3,000 immigration-related searches on Virginia's Flock network over 12 months. In Richmond, an ATF analyst improperly accessed Flock to aid an immigration investigation.
EFF's systematic rebuttal of Flock's privacy improvements, arguing software tweaks are easily circumvented and the fundamental architecture -- a nationwide interconnected surveillance network searchable across state lines -- cannot be fixed by feature updates.
The Johnson County Sheriff's Office searched 83,000+ Flock cameras with the logged reason 'had an abortion, search for female.' Both Flock and the sheriff falsely claimed this was a welfare check. This report ignited a national wave of Flock contract cancellations.
The report that launched the national backlash against Flock. 404 Media obtained data showing ICE agents accessed Flock's network through 'side door' arrangements where local police ran 4,000+ nationwide lookups on ICE's behalf, despite Flock's public claims of having no ICE relationship.
Denver City Council unanimously voted down a Flock extension, but Mayor Johnston unilaterally extended the contract twice for approximately $498,500 without council approval, sparking a constitutional separation-of-powers controversy.
Reporting revealed Flock's Nova platform supplemented ALPR data with information from data breaches and commercial data brokers. Independent analysis of Nova's codebase found explicit 'Dark Data' functionality for searching SSNs, credit card numbers, and breach archives, despite Flock's denials.
A federal judge dismissed the Liberty Justice Center's challenge to Illinois State Police ALPR cameras, ruling ALPR scanning 'does not trigger Fourth Amendment scrutiny' because license plates are publicly visible.
Orange City Officer Jarmarus Brown used Flock and the DAVID police database to track his ex-girlfriend, even asking a fellow officer to help him 'stakeout' her vehicle. The victim described extremely controlling behavior — limiting her makeup, fingernail length, and demanding constant location sharing. Charged with stalking and unauthorized computer access.
EFF documents the systemic human cost of ALPR misreads and database errors: families held at gunpoint, children handcuffed, cars seized for weeks, and a driver mauled by a police dog. Industry accuracy of roughly 90% means 1-in-10 plates are misread, generating thousands of wrongful alerts annually.
The Institute for Justice filed a Fourth Amendment challenge to Norfolk's use of 172 Flock cameras, arguing blanket ALPR surveillance constitutes an unconstitutional search. NBC News reported one plaintiff was tracked 526 times in four months. Flock attempted to intervene in the case but was rejected.
Flock installed dozens of cameras on public property in Fort Worth without city permits, violating local regulations. Despite a cease-and-desist from the Texas Department of Public Safety, cameras continued operating.
Police used ALPR to identify all Dodge Chargers near a shooting, found Isoke Robinson's car 2 miles away, handcuffed her, put her autistic 2-year-old in a patrol car, and impounded her vehicle for 3+ weeks without ever checking if it matched the suspect vehicle. She settled for $35,000.
Sedgwick Police Chief Lee Nygaard tracked his ex-girlfriend's vehicle 164 times and her new boyfriend's 64 times, falsely logging searches as investigations for a missing child and drug activity. He admitted jealousy motivated his actions. Sentenced to only 18 months probation — no criminal charges.
In United States v. Smith, the Fifth Circuit held that geofence warrants are categorically unconstitutional because they search everyone in an area rather than a specific suspect. The reasoning has direct implications for ALPR networks that similarly surveil all vehicles passing through an area without individualized suspicion.
In the first ruling of its kind, a Norfolk judge ruled police should have obtained a warrant before accessing Flock data, suppressing evidence in a robbery case. The court analogized Flock's 172-camera system to GPS tracking under Carpenter v. United States.
An academic researcher who provided oversight for Flock's marquee study — claiming its technology helps solve 10% of crime — expressed serious reservations. The researcher said police data was 'too varied and incomplete' for meaningful statistical analysis.
The ACLU called out Flock for refusing independent testing by IPVM after a 2021 test found a 10% error rate. Flock claims 'best-in-class' performance without permitting independent verification.
Brittney Gilliam and her family, including a 6-year-old, were pulled from their car at gunpoint and handcuffed on hot asphalt in Aurora, CO. The ALPR matched their Colorado plate to a stolen Montana motorcycle. The city settled for $1.9 million in February 2024.
New Hampshire requires ALPR data to be deleted within 3 minutes unless connected to an active investigation — the most restrictive law in the nation. At least 17 states have ALPR-specific statutes, with Maine (21 days), Tennessee and North Carolina (90 days), and Arkansas (150 days) also imposing retention limits.
In Espanola, NM, an ALPR misread a plate digit and a 12-year-old was handcuffed. One month later, a 17-year-old honors student and quarterback was stopped at gunpoint on his way home from school after ALPR mistook his vehicle for one linked to armed robberies. Both families filed lawsuits.
A Frisco, TX officer manually entered a plate as 'AZ' instead of 'AR,' generating a stolen vehicle hit. A Black family heading to a basketball tournament was held at gunpoint. The police chief publicly admitted 'We made a mistake.'
An investigation into how Flock Safety expanded its ALPR network by marketing directly to HOAs and neighborhood groups, creating a sprawling surveillance infrastructure that feeds data to law enforcement with minimal oversight or public debate.
The Intercept documented how Flock courted police first, then tag-teamed to persuade HOAs to purchase cameras. In one Florida community, an individual resident installed 10 cameras without HOA backing. In Kechi, Kansas, a police officer was arrested for using Flock to stalk his estranged wife.
Kechi Police Lt. Victor Heiar was arrested for using Wichita PD's Flock system to track his estranged wife's movements. He pled guilty, received 18 months probation, and lost his police certification. His wife had told family where her kids were 'in case she were to come up missing or murdered.'
The ACLU's foundational critique of Flock's business model, documenting how the company builds a private national surveillance infrastructure beyond traditional law enforcement tools, with HOA customers operating outside Fourth Amendment constraints.
ALPR flagged Ali Badr's rental car as stolen after the rental company reported missed payments. Police released a K-9 that mauled his arm for over a minute while he was unresisting, with an officer pointing a gun at his face. Badr had at least three surgeries and reportedly lost use of his arm.
Comprehensive Brennan Center white paper covering ALPR legal status across states, data sharing risks, chilling effects on free speech, and risks of officer misuse. Has served as foundational policy resource for communities evaluating Flock contracts.
In Commonwealth v. McCarthy, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court became the first appellate court to recognize that ALPRs can constitute a Fourth Amendment search at sufficient scale. The court applied the 'mosaic theory,' holding that aggregated location data from plate readers can reveal intimate details of a person's life.
Brian Hofer, chair of Oakland's Privacy Advisory Commission, was stopped on Thanksgiving after ALPR flagged their rental car as stolen — it had been recovered but the database was never updated. His brother was held at gunpoint 'execution style.' Settlement: $49,500.
An ALPR misread a '3' as a '7' on Denise Green's plate. Six officers drew guns including a shotgun, ordered her to kneel, and handcuffed her. The 'stolen' vehicle was a gray truck; she drove a burgundy Lexus. San Francisco settled for $495,000.