Recent lawsuits, investigative reports, and city contract cancellations reveal that Flock Safety has made misleading claims about its Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) technology, including how data is stored, who can access it, and how accurate it really is. Communities across the country, including several in upstate New York, are now asking hard questions about whether they were sold a surveillance system under false pretenses.
What Is Flock Safety and How Does Their ALPR Technology Work?
Flock Safety is an Atlanta-based company that sells Automatic License Plate Recognition cameras to police departments, homeowners associations, and local governments. Their cameras photograph passing vehicles, capture license plate data, and upload that information to a cloud database that law enforcement can search in near real time. [7]
The company markets its system as a simple, affordable tool for solving property crimes. Cities pay a subscription fee for access to the camera network and the data it generates. Flock claims its technology can identify not just plate numbers but also vehicle color, make, and distinguishing features like bumper stickers or roof racks.
What the company has been slower to disclose is how broadly that data can be shared, how long it is kept, and who else might be watching.
What Controversies Has Flock Safety Been Involved In?
Flock Safety’s ALPR technology under fire is not a new story, but 2025 and 2026 brought the most serious challenges yet. The EFF’s year-end 2025 review documented a pattern of surveillance abuses, including cases where Flock’s data was used far beyond its stated crime-fighting purpose. [5]
Cities began canceling contracts after reports emerged that Flock’s systems could be, and in some cases were, accessed by federal immigration enforcement. NPR reported in early 2026 that multiple municipalities ended their agreements specifically over concerns that ICE could use the data to track undocumented residents. [1]
The Guardian published an in-depth investigation in April 2026 detailing how Flock’s cameras created a de facto nationwide tracking grid, with data flowing between jurisdictions in ways that residents and even some local officials never fully understood. [8]
Flock Safety Accuracy Problems and False Matches
Flock’s cameras do not always get it right. Business Insider reported in early 2026 that Flock’s ALPR cameras produce misreads at a rate that raises serious concerns, particularly for drivers whose plates are incorrectly flagged as stolen or connected to criminal investigations. [9]
False positives in license plate recognition are not a minor inconvenience. They can lead to traffic stops at gunpoint, wrongful detentions, and lasting trauma, particularly for Black and Latino drivers who already face disproportionate police contact. This connects directly to broader criminal justice reform conversations happening in communities like Utica and across upstate New York.
Common causes of Flock ALPR misreads include:
- Dirty, damaged, or partially obscured plates
- Similar-looking plate characters (0 vs. O, 1 vs. I)
- Poor lighting conditions at night or in bad weather
- Plates from states with unusual fonts or designs
Is Flock Safety Legal and What Are the Privacy Concerns?
Flock Safety operates legally in most jurisdictions, but “legal” does not mean “without serious privacy concerns.” The ACLU has tracked Flock’s expansion and warned that the company’s data-sharing agreements create a surveillance infrastructure with almost no meaningful oversight. [10]
The core legal tension is this: individual cameras may be lawful, but the aggregated network of thousands of cameras creates a tracking capability that courts have not yet fully addressed. The Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling in Carpenter v. United States suggested that long-term location tracking requires a warrant, but ALPR networks operate in a legal gray zone.
Drivers have no meaningful opt-out option. If your car travels on a public road covered by Flock cameras, your movements are being logged. [8]
Flock Safety Data Retention Policies and Who Can Access the Data
This is where Flock Safety’s ALPR technology under fire gets most troubling. The company has described its data retention policies inconsistently, telling some communities that data is deleted after 30 days while other contracts allow for much longer retention windows. [5]
The class action lawsuit filed in California in 2026 alleges that Flock retained and shared data in ways that violated state privacy law and contradicted what the company told customers. [2] The lawsuit claims Flock’s systems enabled illegal tracking of individuals without their knowledge or consent.
Key data access concerns:
- Local police departments can share Flock data with federal agencies, including ICE, without notifying residents
- Homeowners associations using Flock cameras operate under even less oversight than police departments
- The company’s terms of service give Flock itself broad rights to use aggregated data
- There is no public dashboard showing who accessed what data, when, or why
Flock Safety Lawsuits and Settlements: What Happened?
The 2026 California class action is the most significant legal challenge Flock has faced. Filed on behalf of California drivers, the lawsuit alleges that Flock’s ALPR cameras captured and retained personal location data without consent, violating the California Consumer Privacy Act and other state laws. [2]
The suit also alleges that Flock misrepresented its data-handling practices to both customers and the public, a claim that echoes concerns raised by the EFF and the ACLU. [5] [10] As of mid-2026, the case is ongoing and no settlement has been announced.
Separately, the Los Angeles Street Lighting Bureau faced scrutiny in June 2026 over its use of license plate readers, including questions about whether Flock’s systems were being used in ways that exceeded what the city council had authorized. [6]
How Many Cities Use Flock Safety Cameras?
Flock Safety cameras are deployed in thousands of communities across the United States, with the company claiming partnerships with more than 5,000 agencies as of recent years. [7] That number has grown rapidly since the company’s founding in 2017.
The scale matters because it means Flock’s data network is not a collection of isolated local tools. It is a connected national surveillance grid. A plate scanned in one city can be flagged and acted upon in another, often without the driver ever knowing their movements were tracked across state lines.
For Mohawk Valley residents and Oneida County communities considering or already using Flock cameras, this national context is essential. Local decisions feed into a much larger data ecosystem.
What Happened With Flock Safety and the ACLU?
The ACLU has been one of the most consistent critics of Flock Safety’s expansion. Their tracking project documented how Flock’s “Flock Roundup” feature, which allows police to search for a vehicle across all cameras in a network, creates the functional equivalent of a dragnet surveillance system. [10]
The ACLU’s core concern is that Flock markets itself as a neighborhood safety tool while building infrastructure that enables mass surveillance. The organization has called on cities to pause new Flock contracts until stronger data governance rules are in place.
Several cities heeded that call. NPR reported that municipalities canceled contracts specifically after community members and advocacy groups raised immigration enforcement concerns, a direct result of sustained ACLU pressure and local organizing. [1]
Flock Safety vs. Other License Plate Readers: Which Is Better?
Flock Safety is not the only ALPR provider on the market. Competitors include Motorola Solutions (which acquired Vigilant Solutions), Genetec, and Rekor Systems. Each has different data-sharing policies, accuracy rates, and pricing structures.
Flock’s main competitive advantage has been its ease of deployment and its subscription model, which lowers upfront costs for smaller departments. But critics argue that the subscription model also means cities are permanently dependent on a private company for access to data collected in their own communities.
Choose an alternative if:
- Your community prioritizes strict local data control with no third-party cloud storage
- Your city has passed strong sanctuary or data privacy ordinances
- Your department wants a system with independently audited accuracy rates
How Much Does Flock Safety Cost for Cities and Police Departments?
Flock Safety uses a subscription pricing model, typically charging cities and police departments on a per-camera, per-year basis. Reported contract values suggest costs range from a few hundred to over a thousand dollars per camera annually, depending on contract size and features. [7]
The subscription model means the true long-term cost is often higher than initial quotes suggest. Cities that cancel contracts, as several did in 2025 and 2026, also lose access to historical data, creating a practical lock-in effect. [1]
For communities weighing the cost of Flock against the cost of privacy litigation and eroded public trust, the math is getting harder to justify.
Does Flock Safety Work at Night and in Bad Weather?
Flock Safety markets its cameras as capable of capturing clear images in low-light and adverse weather conditions, using infrared illumination and high-resolution sensors. In controlled conditions, the cameras perform reasonably well at night.
However, real-world performance varies. Heavy rain, snow, and fog reduce accuracy meaningfully. Dirty lenses, common in regions like upstate New York with harsh winters, further degrade performance. [9] These conditions increase the false positive rate, meaning more innocent drivers get flagged.
For communities in the Erie Canal corridor and Adirondack region, where winter weather is severe and prolonged, this is not a minor technical footnote. It is a public safety and civil liberties concern.
FAQ
What is Flock Safety accused of lying about?
Flock Safety has been accused of misrepresenting its data retention timelines, downplaying the extent of data sharing with federal agencies, and overstating the accuracy of its ALPR cameras. A 2026 California class action lawsuit formalizes many of these allegations. [2]
Can ICE access Flock Safety data?
Yes, in many jurisdictions. Because Flock’s data can be shared across law enforcement networks, federal agencies including ICE can potentially access it. This concern drove multiple cities to cancel their Flock contracts in 2025 and 2026. [1]
What is the false positive rate for Flock Safety cameras?
Flock has not publicly released a verified false positive rate. Business Insider reported in 2026 that misreads are a documented problem, particularly in low-light, bad weather, or high-traffic conditions. [9]
Can I opt out of Flock Safety tracking?
No meaningful opt-out exists for drivers. If your vehicle travels on a road covered by Flock cameras, your plate data is captured and stored. [8]
Has Flock Safety settled any lawsuits?
As of mid-2026, the major California class action lawsuit is ongoing with no announced settlement. [2]
What did the EFF find about Flock Safety?
The EFF’s 2025 year-end review documented multiple cases where Flock’s data was used beyond its stated purpose, including tracking individuals in ways that raised serious civil liberties concerns. [5]
How long does Flock Safety keep your data?
Data retention varies by contract and has been described inconsistently by the company. Some agreements specify 30-day deletion windows; others allow much longer retention. [5]
Are there cities that banned Flock Safety cameras?
Several cities have canceled or declined to renew Flock contracts, particularly over immigration enforcement concerns. None have enacted outright bans as of mid-2026. [1]
Is Flock Safety used in New York?
Flock cameras have been deployed in communities across New York State. Residents of Utica, Rome, and surrounding Oneida County should check with local government to confirm whether their municipality uses Flock’s systems.
What alternatives exist to Flock Safety?
Alternatives include Motorola Solutions’ Vigilant platform, Genetec AutoVu, and Rekor Systems. Each differs in data governance policies, accuracy, and cost structures.
Conclusion: What Communities Should Do Now
Flock Safety’s ALPR technology under fire is not just a story about one company’s business practices. It is a story about what happens when communities hand over surveillance infrastructure to private companies without demanding accountability in return.
The pattern is clear: misleading claims about data retention, inadequate transparency about who can access your location history, and a business model that creates lock-in while building a national tracking grid. For communities that value government transparency, criminal justice reform, and the civil rights of all residents, including undocumented neighbors, this deserves urgent attention.
Here is what you can do right now:
- Contact your city council member or county legislator and ask whether your municipality uses Flock Safety cameras and under what data-sharing terms
- Attend the next town hall meeting or public safety committee meeting and demand a public review of any ALPR contracts
- Support local and national ACLU efforts to establish stronger data governance rules for surveillance technology
- Share this reporting with neighbors, community organizations, and local journalists to build informed civic pressure
- Urge your representatives in Albany and Washington to pass meaningful ALPR data privacy legislation
Local elections matter here. School board decisions, city council votes, and county planning meetings are where surveillance policy gets made. Civic participation at that level is the most direct path to change.
The cameras are already watching. The question is whether your community is watching back.
References
[1] Flock Contracts Canceled Immigration Surveillance Concerns – https://www.npr.org/2026/02/17/nx-s1-5612825/flock-contracts-canceled-immigration-survillance-concerns
[2] Flock Safety License Plate Reader Cameras Lawsuit – https://www.classlawgroup.com/flock-safety-license-plate-reader-cameras-lawsuit
[5] EFF’s Investigations Expose Flock Safety’s Surveillance Abuses 2025 Review – https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/12/effs-investigations-expose-flock-safetys-surveillance-abuses-2025-review
[6] LA Street Lighting Bureau Police License Plate Readers – https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-06-09/la-street-lighting-bureau-police-license-plate-readers
[7] Flock Safety – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flock_Safety
[8] Flock Cameras Privacy Concerns – https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/apr/06/flock-cameras-privacy-concerns
[9] Flock Safety ALPR Cameras Misreads 2026 – https://www.businessinsider.com/flock-safety-alpr-cameras-misreads-2026-3
[10] Flock Roundup – https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/tracking-alpr-cameras/flock-roundup
