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Flock Safety, a company known for its AI-enabled license plate readers, announced new safety measures on Thursday (August 13) in response to reports of police misuse of its technology. These changes come amid growing concerns over privacy and surveillance across the United States.
The company will now require law enforcement officers to label every search with a criminal case number and will implement an automatic review for abnormal search activities. This review process will trigger proactive lockouts for users conducting suspicious searches. Additionally, Flock has shortened its data retention policy from 30 days to seven days, unless the data is needed as evidence in an investigation.
Flock CEO Garrett Langley emphasized the company's commitment to safety and privacy, stating, "These changes reflect years of work and deliberation. They are not the end of that work, but simply the continuation of our commitment to both safety and privacy."
Recent reports have highlighted instances of police officers using Flock's system for personal reasons, including stalking former partners. A Washington Post investigation revealed that at least 50 officers have been accused of such misuse.
The new measures include expanding the "Audit Assistance" feature, which flags abnormal activity for review. Previously optional, this feature will become mandatory by the end of the year. Despite these changes, some civil rights advocates, like Chad Marlow from the ACLU, argue that the measures are insufficient, calling them "merely retreads of previous inadequate safety measures."
Flock Safety's surveillance network spans over 120,000 cameras across 49 states, raising concerns about mass surveillance and privacy rights. As Langley noted, "Technology itself is neither good nor evil, but how it's used can be."