Overview
- Flock Safety announced Thursday that it will require all law enforcement customers to use its Audit Assistance tool, force a case number for every search, shorten the company’s default data retention from 30 days to seven, and add an Evidence Mode to preserve case-linked records.
- Audit Assistance will flag unusual search activity and lock out users pending an administrator review, and emergency searches will be automatically flagged for review rather than being exempt from oversight.
- The new rules are limited by customer control and law: agencies can preserve data longer under Evidence Mode or set longer retention when local or state law requires, and Flock does not itself verify case numbers entered by officers.
- The changes follow reporting that identified dozens of alleged officer abuses of Flock’s nationwide ALPR network and a string of arrests and resignations, with the company saying it operates roughly 120,000 cameras across most U.S. states.
- Privacy groups and some local officials called the updates incremental and said stronger legal rules—such as independent audits, judicial warrants for location searches, and enforceable laws—are still needed while many jurisdictions continue contract reviews and probe alleged misuse.