Flock cameras have rapidly change into a few of the most hated issues on the planet. One of many major causes is the notion that cops abuse the instruments for nefarious ends. There have been loads of experiences that allege that officers have used Flock cameras to spy on folks and even stalk ex-partners.
The corporate is lastly addressing a few of these points and rolling out updates to make abuse by legislation enforcement and different entities harder. The pre-existing Audit Help function will now be required to make use of, after being launched as an non-obligatory instrument. This flags “irregular search conduct” and locks out suspicious customers till an administrator evaluations their exercise.
Law enforcement officials will now be required to enter case codes to run searches, which is meant to restrict private queries. This may, nevertheless, be overridden by an administrator in sure eventualities.
I’ve realized quite a bit in 9 years of constructing @Flock_Safety. A few of it from our prospects, and a few of it from the communities they serve.
In the present day we’re saying the modifications that got here from listening. A brand new normal for privateness, safety, and accountability in public security…
— Garrett Langley (@glangley) August 13, 2026
“That is such an apparent approach to curb abuse,” CEO Garrett Langley advised The Verge. “And I stated, ‘Positive. You realize what? I believe that is proper, and we received this one flawed. We should always make it a requirement.'” It’s value noting that we have been seeing Flock-related stalking incidents from cops since 2021.
The corporate can be shortening the Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) knowledge retention interval from 30 days to per week. Once more, there can be exceptions for “circumstances that take longer,” like “an lively investigation in chilly storage.” Nonetheless, this seems to be to solely apply to new prospects. The corporate is carving out one other exception for current prospects, through which they’ll “hold their present, democratically authorized retention intervals.”
CEO Langley has lengthy been combative in terms of critics of Flock, even calling a web site that tracks the cameras “terroristic”. He has since apologized for that language and appears to have taken a softer method, seemingly because of extreme public backlash.
“All I assume I am asking for is for a good shot,” he advised The Verge. “It took me possibly longer than it ought to have to comprehend the sheer affect of the corporate.” Once more, it should be famous that these officer-related offenses have been ongoing for at the least 5 years and the corporate itself turns 10 subsequent yr.
These are largely constructive strikes that would curb some police misuse, however that is just one facet of why folks dislike Flock cameras a lot. Teams just like the ACLU and the Digital Frontier Basis have accused the corporate of deceptive the general public concerning the capabilities of those cameras, suggesting that they’re really far more than easy license plate readers.
To that finish, there are allegations that the cameras have been used to trace a girl searching for an abortion. Police have additionally been utilizing Flock cameras to trace folks touring from one state to a different for the aim of buying marijuana in a state the place it is authorized.
There are a number of experiences that Flock knowledge has been shared with ICE, to which Langley has stated that “if the state of Texas needs to implement immigration, they could use Flock, however they’re gonna go implement immigration it doesn’t matter what Flock does.” As of this writing, at the least 24 folks have reportedly died in ICE custody in 2026.
All of this mixed has led to critical backlash. Some legislation enforcement companies have severed ties with the corporate, like in Los Angeles. Communities have additionally begun taking issues into their very own arms. Flock cameras have been vandalized, destroyed or straight-up stolen in quite a few incidents all through the nation. One Minnesota city discovered that its total inventory of Flock cameras had disappeared in a single day. The town’s police division has introduced it won’t be changing the cameras.
