On August 13, 2026, surveillance giant Flock Safety announced major policy updates to its roadside camera network following intense public backlash and reports of police abuse. The company will now require officers to input criminal case numbers for searches and mandate an automated auditing tool to flag abnormal activity. While Flock Safety is also shortening its default data retention period from 30 to seven days, the ACLU and other critics dismiss the changes as public relations efforts that contain easily exploitable loopholes.
Flock Safety policy changes
- ▪Flock Safety's mandatory auditing system will implement a proactive lockout feature that suspends an officer's system access when suspicious search behavior is detected
- ▪Flock Safety announced on August 13, 2026, that it is implementing new privacy and accountability safeguards across its nationwide police surveillance network
- ▪Flock Safety will make its "Audit Assistance" tool mandatory for all law enforcement customers, which automatically reviews searches for abnormal activity and flags suspicious behavior
Police abuse of surveillance tools
- ▪A police chief in Braselton, Georgia, reportedly searched his ex-girlfriend's license plate more than 500 times over a seven-month period using Flock Safety's system
- ▪A former Riverside County Sheriff's deputy in California allegedly used Flock Safety data to stalk his ex-girlfriend and look up license plates of men she was dating
- ▪A Washington Post investigation published on August 2, 2026, found at least 50 law enforcement officers accused of misusing license plate readers, with 46 cases involving Flock Safety cameras
Mandatory case code requirements
- ▪Law enforcement officers will be permitted to bypass the case code requirement during emergencies, though those searches will be flagged for administrator review
- ▪Flock Safety will require law enforcement officers to enter a criminal case number or case code before conducting searches on its database
Shortened data retention periods
- ▪Flock Safety is shortening its recommended default data retention period for license plate reader data from 30 days to seven days
- ▪Flock Safety is introducing "Evidence Mode," which allows police departments to preserve specific searches tied to an active criminal case number beyond the default retention period
ACLU criticism of loopholes
- ▪The ACLU criticized Flock Safety's updates, stating they appear more focused on addressing a public relations problem than resolving the actual harms of mass surveillance
- ▪ACLU senior policy counsel Chad Marlow stated that evaluating the effectiveness of Flock Safety's new safeguards requires the company to open its systems to independent researchers
- ▪An ACLU investigation found that officers previously bypassed search justification prompts by entering generic terms or typing "hehehe" multiple times
Contract losses from backlash
- ▪Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley attributed the contract cancellations to public misinformation regarding facial recognition and data selling
- ▪At least 30 cities canceled or suspended their contracts with Flock Safety over the past year due to concerns over mass surveillance and police abuse
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