What happened?

Police technology company Flock announced on August 13, 2026, that it changed access rules for its nationwide network of 120,000 license plate reader cameras. The changes come after reports that officers misused Flock's technology to track former or current partners. A Washington Post investigation identified 46 cases where officers used camera data for unauthorized purposes.

Flock now requires a case file number to be entered before every search, a feature that was optional last year and has now been made mandatory. The company also made mandatory its automated audit system, which detects suspicious search behavior and alerts administrators. However, Flock does not verify the case numbers entered and does not allow independent assessment of the audit tool's accuracy.

Why does it matter?

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) points out that similar safeguards have been easily bypassed in the past. For instance, at one Oregon police department, officers entered "hehehe" 20 times as the reason for a search. Chad Marlow, senior policy counsel at the ACLU, says the backlash stems not just from individual abuses but from the scale of surveillance that Flock cameras enable.

Flock also lowered its recommended data retention period from 30 days to 7 days, though departments can choose to extend it. The company also allows departments to restrict the reasons other departments can use to search, for example permitting "kidnapping" investigations while blocking searches for "immigration enforcement" purposes.

What we know

  • Flock CEO Garrett Langley argues that the main cause of customer losses is misinformation about the company.
  • The ACLU claims that beyond disputing claims that Flock doesn't use facial recognition or sell data, the company has given misleading information to city councils.
  • In February 2026, NPR reported that at least 30 cities canceled their Flock contracts in the past year; activist group DeFlock claims the number is higher.
  • Some states and municipalities are banning license plate readers entirely, while others are switching to competitors like Axon and Motorola.

What's next?

Flock argues the new rules are a step toward addressing surveillance concerns, but Marlow describes the changes as "small and incremental." According to Marlow, the only way to verify the effectiveness of these measures would be for the company to open its systems to independent researchers, something it has not done so far. Flock states that the contract losses represent a small fraction of its total 5,000 contracted agencies.

The changes in full

Two of the four announced adjustments are requirements, two are delegations of control:

  • Entering a criminal case number before a search is now mandatory — it was previously optional.
  • The automatic audit that flags suspicious search behaviour is now mandatory — also previously optional.
  • The company now recommends 7 days of data retention instead of 30, though agencies can override it.
  • Agencies can restrict other departments' searches by stated purpose — permitting a “kidnapping” investigation, for instance, while blocking “immigration enforcement”.

How the safeguards were bypassed

Why a mandatory field may not be enough is shown by the ACLU's finding: officers slipped past the safeguard by typing generic terms like “investigation” into the purpose field, or entries openly mocking it. At one Oregon department the same field was filled in with “hehehe” 20 times. A free-text box does not become an accountability mechanism just because filling it in is compulsory.

Scale gives the decision its context: 120,000 cameras, 5,000 contracted agencies, and — per NPR in February — at least 30 cities that cancelled contracts over the past year. Flock CEO Garrett Langley attributes the customer losses to “misinformation”. The ACLU's Chad Marlow finds the changes insufficient and says the company needs to grant independent researchers access: “In America, you only get to investigate someone if you think they've done something wrong.”