Policy · 47 days ago
Flock Safety said Thursday it will shorten default automated license plate reader retention to seven days, require all customers to enable Audit Assistance, and make officers enter case codes for searches after reports of misuse by law enforcement. The company also said emergency searches can bypass the new case-code requirement.
The mechanics are mostly about controls, not a hard limit: Evidence Mode can keep data longer when a case is active, and critics note that longer retention has been available before, sometimes as a paid option. Audit Assistance is meant to flag abnormal activity and suspend accounts for review, but it does not remove the underlying ability to search across jurisdictions.
For agencies using Flock, the practical change is a tighter front end and more review paperwork around the same surveillance network. If a department already depends on multi-agency plate searches or longer holds for investigations, the exposure still persists beyond the seven-day default.
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The surveillance company announced it's making a tool called "Audit Assistance" mandatory for all customers, claiming it's already helped catch abuse. But the company has yet to explain how the tool works in detail, raising questions about its effectiveness.
Too Little, Too Late: Flock Admits Their Technology Needs Reforms
The reforms are a combination of long overdue changes along with some cosmetic fixes that fail to address the fundamental dangers of this technology.
The Record from Recorded Future
Flock tightens privacy controls amid scandals over officer abuse
All Flock Safety customers will be required to adopt its "Audit Assistance" feature for tracking abnormal uses, and the company says it will hold license plate data for only seven days in most cases.
Part of the PlainSec briefing for 2026-08-14