Flock, the police license-plate-reader company operating 120,000 cameras nationwide, is tightening access rules after reports of officer abuse (stalking exes) and a wave of cities canceling contracts. New requirements include mandatory criminal case numbers before searches, expanded automatic auditing of officer activity, a recommended 7-day (down from 30-day) data retention default, and cross-department search restrictions by stated purpose. Critics including the ACLU's Chad Marlow say the changes are incremental, easy to circumvent since Flock doesn't verify case numbers, and don't address the core issue of mass surveillance without warrants. Flock's CEO attributes lost contracts mainly to 'misinformation' rather than legitimate abuse concerns.
Questions this post answers
What new rules is Flock requiring police officers to follow when searching its license plate camera network?
Officers must now enter a criminal case number before conducting a search, a step that was optional last year but became mandatory. Flock is also making its automatic auditing system, which flags suspicious search activity to administrators, mandatory rather than optional. The company additionally recommends departments retain data for 7 days instead of 30, though agencies can override this. Anyone tracking how surveillance vendors respond to public pressure can follow policy shifts like this on daily.dev.
Can police officers get around Flock's requirement to enter a case number before searching license plate data?
Yes, because Flock does not verify that case numbers are legitimate, officers could enter fake or meaningless numbers just as they previously entered generic or mocking reasons like "investigation" or "hehehe" for search justifications. The ACLU documented one Oregon department where an officer entered "hehehe" 20 times under the earlier reason-based safeguard. Developers evaluating surveillance or audit-logging systems can weigh real-world circumvention cases like this on daily.dev.
Why are cities canceling their contracts with Flock's license plate reader system?
Cities are dropping Flock contracts amid backlash over mass surveillance concerns and reports of officers abusing the system to stalk partners, with NPR finding at least 30 cities canceling in one year, though activist group DeFlock estimates the number is higher. Some municipalities are switching to competitors Axon and Motorola or banning license plate readers outright, while Flock's CEO attributes the losses mainly to misinformation. Teams choosing between surveillance or monitoring vendors can track contract and trust fallout like this on daily.dev.