Flock Safety tries to curb police abuse of its surveillance cameras after scandals

Key Points:

• Flock Safety, which operates a vast US network of license plate scanning cameras, will now require law enforcement agencies to activate auditing features designed to monitor officer use and flag abnormal activity, following reports of misuse including stalking by officers.
• The company will restrict data sharing between agencies to specific investigations, such as stolen vehicles or missing persons, addressing concerns about targeting vulnerable groups and unlawful data sharing.
• Flock is reducing the default license plate scan data retention period from 30 to 7 days, though agencies can extend retention for ongoing investigations, maintaining flexibility in public safety strategies.
• Privacy advocates and legal experts criticize these changes as insufficient, arguing that mass surveillance with limited guardrails threatens civil liberties and that self-policing by police departments is inadequate oversight.
• Public backlash against Flock has intensified, with over 80 cities reconsidering contracts amid concerns about privacy violations and misuse, following high-profile controversies including the cancellation of a partnership with Amazon Ring.