Flock adds safeguards to licence-plate readers after stalking cases.

Flock Safety announced Thursday it is making previously optional safeguards mandatory for all law enforcement customers, responding to documented officer misuse and a wave of contract cancellations.

• 120,000 Flock cameras produce roughly 20 billion plate scans per month.
• 30-day default data retention drops to seven days under the new rules.
• Officers must enter a case code tying each search to a specific investigation.
• More than 50 agencies canceled, suspended, or deactivated Flock deployments this year.

Why it matters: The Washington Post identified nearly 50 officers accused or charged with misusing plate-reader systems — many for tracking current or former romantic partners.

• Auditing tools that could have flagged irregular searches had been enabled by only about one-third of agencies.
• Local agencies will gain the ability to block outside departments from searching their data for specific offense types, such as immigration enforcement.

How 55 sources split on this story

Where they split: The dispute is whether a private company setting its own mandatory rules is an adequate substitute for legal requirements imposed by courts or legislatures.

What’s next: Mandatory safeguards are set to take effect Jan. 1 for all law enforcement customers.

• Republican lawmakers filed at least two bills in July to restrict automated plate-reader use.
• Whether AI-based auditing can reliably detect misconduct without independent human oversight remains unresolved.
• It is unclear how Flock will enforce compliance among agencies that revert to looser local settings.
• Independent research on Flock's effectiveness in reducing crime remains limited.