(Just The News)—Strengthening privacy, accountability and security. That’s the new focus license-plate-reading camera giant Flock said it plans after facing widespread criticism across the U.S.
The company has faced mounting scrutiny for blanketing public rights-of-way – and even private property – with advanced automatic license plate reading cameras, or ALPRs, and for how local law enforcement has used and, in some cases, abused that data.
There’s also growing alarm over the security of Flock’s massive license-plate database itself. On Wednesday’s The States, West Virginia State Delegate Tristan Leavitt voiced those exact concerns about the risk of a breach. He said a Flock representative spoke to the legislature and took questions about stories of the network being hacked.
“He was asked by my colleague, a delegate from an area that has just adopted Flock cameras in their municipality, about videos on YouTube purporting to contain hacked video. And he said, ‘no, that is absolutely false, that we have not ever been hacked,’” Tristan recalled. “There are obviously concerns about these cameras from really across the political spectrum. And so as lawmakers trying to decide what level of involvement the state legislature should have, it’s very difficult if you are not getting straight information directly from Flock themselves.”
Several attempts by The Center Square to set up an interview with someone from Flock were met with no response.
Through a public-relations firm, Flock announced Thursday it is taking concrete steps to answer the rising chorus of criticism over mass surveillance and the potential for abuse.
“Last month alone, we helped detect over a thousand missing people, you know, over 20,000 stolen cars,” Flock CEO Garrett Langley said in a produced video. “We’ve realized our responsibility and our opportunity to set a new standard for safety and privacy has grown with it. And so for us, this is an evolution.”
One change: retention. Previously, Flock recommended keeping license-plate data for 30 days. That window is now being cut to seven days.
For the cases that legitimately need more time, the company is introducing “evidence mode.” Detectives can lock specific ALPR hits in as evidence in an active investigation – consistent with existing laws and policies.
But Langley stressed that Flock has always believed in local control.
“Cities should have a choice,” Langley said. “But what I’ve also realized is that cities rely on us as the expert for what we think is best. As we looked at the data, what we saw is about 90% of investigative searches happened within seven days. So will it solve less crime? It will.”
Cities will now be able to decide exactly which categories of offenses other agencies can search against their cameras, the company said. For example, City A could permit City B to query its network only for stolen vehicles, missing persons, or violent crime – while blocking any searches tied to immigration enforcement. Flock said this gives communities tighter control over data sharing without hindering legitimate collaboration.
Accountability is getting an upgrade too. Langley said the company is strengthening its audit assistance program to produce better, more usable audit logs.
“We are finding bad cops and holding them accountable,” Langley said. “And about a third of our customers actually adopted it over the last four months. We think now is the right time to say, ‘look, this should be required.’ And I would challenge, you know, state regulators to make this a law for all police technology to have this level of accountability so we can curb police abuse.”
Every law enforcement customer will be required to adopt the improved audit tools by the end of this year, the news release said. On top of that, Flock is adding proactive lockouts: when a user’s activity trips defined thresholds for abnormal behavior, the system will automatically suspend access until an administrator reviews it. The company said the goal is to stop misuse before it becomes habitual or widespread.
“These changes, like I said, are the next chapter of a long book I hope to write on how we build a better version of America that’s both safer, protects our privacy, and holds those who have power accountable,” Langley said.
On the security front, Flock said it is committed to running the strongest program in the industry. This year it brought in independent security firm Bishop Fox for a full review of its products and capabilities. A summary of the findings and the company’s remediations is expected to be published next month.
Whether these moves will quiet the criticism over Flock’s nationwide network is unclear.
“There are others like Motorola and other providers,” Leavitt said. “But in terms of dealing with the technology overall, we want to make sure that people are safe and protected. We want to make sure their civil liberties are protected.”
Leavitt said state legislators should also ensure they get accurate information from the companies and provide accountability.
