Aug 21, 2026

https://www.axios.com/local/pittsburgh/2026/08/21/flock-cameras-license-plate-reader-backlash

"By the numbers: Flock has over 120,000 cameras across the country, the company tells Axios.

Flock owns roughly 30% of more than 1,300 ALPRs logged across 10 Southwestern Pennsylvania counties on DeFlock, a national organization that maps Flock cameras and other ALPRs via crowdsourced data.

Friction point: Supporters say the tech helps police quickly find missing people, stolen vehicles and solve violent crimes. Flock estimates its tech helps solve about 10% of reported U.S. crimes, or more than 700,000 a year.

Critics, including the ACLU, argue the large-scale network enables warrantless tracking of all citizens that amounts to mass surveillance.

The Washington Post reported that at least 50 police officers nationwide have been accused of misusing Flock and similar surveillance systems to track intimate partners, including a former Frazer Township officer who pleaded guilty in 2021 to using a Flock competitor to stalk his estranged wife.

The latest: Flock said last week that it's improving its privacy, security and accountability features amid a wave of canceled Flock contracts and reports of vandalism."

https://www.flocksafety.com/trust/data-privacy

"Images and footage are deleted automatically after a set period. In most communities, that’s 30 days unless local law says otherwise.

In plain terms: Data does not sit there forever."

https://www.flocksafety.com/blog/what-do-flock-cameras-actually-capture

"Another important part of how the system works is data retention. The information collected is not meant to sit in a permanent database forever. By default, data automatically deletes after 7 days unless local law requires something different.

That combination is what makes the product easier to understand. Flock cameras capture vehicle details visible in public, not people. They do not use facial recognition. They do not store data indefinitely. By focusing on vehicle evidence in plain view and applying automatic deletion by default, Flock is designed to support both safety and privacy in a way that is transparent and easy to explain."

>>24968505

nice one, thank you, stolt

June 29, 2026

https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/tracking-alpr-cameras/how-to-fight-deployment-of-flock-and-other-mass-surveillance-license-plate-readers-in-your-community

"What is Flock Doing?

Flock says its corporate objective is to build a national camera network of ALPRs by placing them in every city in the United States. While license plate readers have been around for some time, Flock and its venture capital investors are pursuing massive profits by increasing the government’s ability to identify and track vehicles and drivers in local communities to dystopian levels. As Flock itself boasts, its nationwide ALPR network produces more than 20 billion vehicle-tracking plate scans every month in more than 5,000 American communities.

Flock not only allows private camera owners to create their own “hot lists” that will generate alarms when listed plates are spotted, it also runs all plates against larger state police watchlists and the FBI’s primary criminal database, the National Crime Information Center (NCIC). Flock works with police departments, neighborhood watch groups, and other private customers.

Unlike a targeted ALPR camera system that is designed to take pictures of license plates, check the plates against local hot lists, and then flush the data if there’s no hit, Flock is building a giant camera network that records people’s comings and goings across the nation. It then makes that data available for any of its law enforcement customers. A current Flock law enforcement customer can also run a search on behalf of other agencies, like ICE. This provides even small-town sheriffs access to a sweeping and powerful mass-surveillance tool. Big actors like federal agencies and large urban police departments can also access the comings and goings of vehicles in even the smallest of towns. Both Axon and Motorola Solutions, who are competitors to Flock, are pursuing similar business models."