Legal basis

Varies by state; no dedicated federal ALPR statute

Oversight

Fragmented. State-level audits in some cases (e.g. Illinois), but no single national body.

Fragmented by design: thousands of individual agencies each contract with Flock separately, with far less national standardisation of retention or access than a single national system would have. Scale as of August 2026 is roughly 120,000 cameras across 49 states, with a company-cited reach of 6,000 to 7,000 law enforcement agencies; sources differ on the exact headcount and the figures move quickly. That fragmentation is where the most serious documented problems have surfaced. An Illinois state audit found federal immigration authorities had gained access to state plate-read data through an undisclosed CBP arrangement, in apparent tension with state law, and 47 agencies were subsequently removed. A Dayton, Ohio audit in May 2026 found camera data searched more than 7,100 times for immigration enforcement in breach of city policy; the city covered all 72 cameras with bin bags pending contract exit. In San Francisco, 299 improper queries were made over about a year by a regional intelligence centre. The University of Washington Center for Human Rights documented federal access to Washington state networks through front-door, back-door and side-door routes. The Electronic Frontier Foundation reported over eighty agencies entering search justifications using language perpetuating stereotypes about Romani people. Individual officer misuse is now documented repeatedly: a Washington Post investigation found dozens of officers using the network to surveil former partners and romantic interests, and separate 2026 cases include a Georgia officer arrested in August, an Arizona officer who resigned after allegedly tracking his wife, and a North Carolina officer charged over 31 searches of her boyfriend's ex-wife's vehicle. Vendor response, 13 August 2026: default retention cut from 30 days to 7; the previously optional abnormal-search monitoring tool made universal, having been enabled by only about a third of customers; automatic lockouts for suspicious search patterns; case numbers required for extended retention. Flock had earlier removed federal agencies from its national search network (August 2025) and required a NIBRS offence type on every search (December 2025). Contraction is substantial but so is growth: around 53 cities had cancelled by late June 2026 and over 20 jurisdictions moved to drop Flock in July 2026 alone, while roughly 800 US cities approved new contracts during 2026. Ring cancelled a planned Flock integration in March 2026. Washington State's Driver Privacy Act (ESSB 6002), signed 30 March 2026 and effective immediately, imposes a 21-day retention cap, permitted-purpose limits, bans on immigration and reproductive-healthcare and protected-activity uses, collection bans near sensitive sites, mandatory registration with the Attorney General and annual audits.

Source: Company statements; Illinois state audit findings, reported by State of Surveillance and the ACLU · last checked 2026-08-25

Legal basis

City council authorisation

Oversight

City council vote following public disclosure

Police Chief Mike Canfield disclosed to the city council in February 2026 that federal agencies had gained access to the city’s Flock camera data without the city’s knowledge. The council voted unanimously to terminate the contract and the department discontinued use. Included as a specific, well-documented instance of a US agency withdrawing a deployment after an oversight failure, distinct from the wider Flock Safety entry tracked separately.

Source: City council disclosure, reported by State of Surveillance and the ACLU · last checked 2026-08-25