Overview
- Tempe announced Wednesday that it has shut off its Flock automated license‑plate readers and will end the city’s contract after officials said the risk of misuse outweighed the investigative benefits.
- A new Institute for Justice database shows roughly 92 local governments have canceled or declined to renew ALPR agreements with Flock as communities reassess procurement, transparency, and data‑sharing terms.
- Audits and a new mandatory auditing tool have flagged repeated improper searches, producing criminal charges and resignations including an officer in Kentucky who was charged after running 2,048 searches to track a former partner and a Massachusetts officer who resigned after an internal probe.
- Flock has required customers to use an AI‑driven audit assistance tool and recommended cutting default data retention from 30 days to seven days, but local agencies still control settings and the company’s cross‑jurisdiction network leaves oversight and sharing gaps.
- Public pushback has ranged from protests to vandalism and creative police stings, such as a 3D‑printed decoy operation in Oviedo that produced felony charges, while at least one grand jury declined to indict a person accused of damaging a Flock camera, underscoring contested prosecutions and likely further policy and legislative reviews.