Flock, the US-based surveillance technology company, is introducing new safeguards to curb police misuse of its camera network after its founder and chief executive, Garrett Langley, conceded the company should have acted sooner. Asked directly whether Flock had taken too long to protect its tens of thousands of cameras, licence plate readers and drones from abuse by law enforcement, Langley replied:
Yeah... yes.
As part of the changes, Flock is shortening the default retention period for most data from 30 days to seven days, and will begin automatically flagging unusual or abnormal search activity by officers.
How has police misuse of Flock's technology come to light?
Law enforcement officers have used Flock's cameras to track current and former romantic partners and to stalk private citizens, according to reporting cited in the original account. In one documented case, police used the system to monitor a woman who had had an abortion. Officers across the country have resigned or been dismissed over misuse of the technology, and a man in Indiana said he only learned through a public records request that police had placed an alert on his vehicle despite him not being suspected of any crime.
Independent reporting adds further scale to the problem. A Washington Post analysis, cited by the Detroit News, found that at least 50 law enforcement officers have been charged with or accused of unauthorised use of licence-plate readers, including for stalking. Separately, the ACLU of Wisconsin documented a case in which a former police chief used Flock's automatic licence plate recognition cameras to track his ex-girlfriend's vehicle 228 times over more than four months. The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre has also compiled more than 20 cases of officers abusing the system for stalking and gender-based harassment.
Why are some cities cutting ties with Flock, while others return?
At least 50 cities have ended their contracts with Flock this year amid growing public backlash over privacy concerns. However, Langley said 16 of the cities that had switched off the service have reconciled with the company in the past three months, and that Flock is currently gaining roughly seven new customers for every one it loses.
The backlash intensified after Amazon's doorbell camera company, Ring, cancelled a partnership with Flock following criticism of a Super Bowl advertisement that raised concerns about unwanted surveillance. Langley said that around six months ago he asked Flock's board why public scrutiny of the company appeared to be intensifying.
Historically, my point of view as a chief executive of a private company was, I don't know if I should be making these decisions. I don't know if it's my job to say how long data should be retained.
He said he has since come to agree with civil liberties groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, that police should be required to have an active case number before searching Flock's data.
They're right. I think it should be required.
Our employees and communities have said loud and clear, they expect companies like Flock to have a stronger point of view as the expert. I resisted that because I didn't want to have that responsibility.
What steps has Flock already taken to prevent abuse?
Flock introduced an audit feature earlier this year that automatically logs searches and flags unusual patterns of use; most police customers who had access to it chose to activate it voluntarily. According to CNN, Flock launched a dedicated "audit assistance tool" in July 2026 specifically to flag abnormal system use after the fact, and one police department profiled by the outlet now requires officers to submit a case number and written explanation for every search. Despite these measures, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in August 2026 that new allegations of police abuse continued to surface even after the audit tools were rolled out. CNN separately reported a case in which a detective admitted to using Flock to track two people and secretly fitted a GPS device to one person's vehicle.
Langley said misuse had proven widespread enough that Flock decided to make the audit feature standard rather than optional. He argued that officers who abuse their access deserve harsher consequences than dismissal.
If anyone is going to be the one that spearheads getting rid of abusive cops? Sign me up. We trust these individuals with deadly weapons. I think a camera is very far from a deadly weapon, but I would say it's a very powerful tool. We should hold it incredibly accountable.
Is Flock unfairly blamed for police misconduct?
Langley pushed back on the idea that his company alone bears responsibility for how officers use its tools, arguing that failures often stem from human error rather than the technology itself.
We're only as good as the data coming in. When you see these cases of wrongful arrest, the data was bad and the officer failed to follow the rules. But it's easier to pick a villain that's a company like us.
He said the visibility of Flock's cameras in neighbourhoods makes the firm an easy target for broader public anxiety about privacy and surveillance technology, particularly in the absence of comprehensive US federal data protection law.
Because you can see our cameras, it's easier to get mad.
Langley recounted meeting a woman in Cleveland who strongly opposed Flock's presence in her community. When he asked why, she told him the technology was ultimately a tool police could use to abuse their power — a sentiment he said many officers themselves share, having told him privately that colleagues they suspected of wrongdoing could not be proven guilty. This mirrors broader criticism of police surveillance tools; commentator John Oliver recently described police surveillance technology, including cameras and licence plate readers, as invasive and prone to error, in remarks likening the tools to "Big Brother on steroids".
What happens next?
According to the Detroit News, a Wisconsin case involving an officer accused of using Flock's cameras to check whether his ex-girlfriend had visited an abortion clinic is scheduled for trial this month. Flock has also said it will soon announce additional filters and tools designed to prevent misuse before it occurs, rather than only flagging it afterwards.
Key Facts
- Flock is cutting most data retention from 30 days to seven days and automatically flagging abnormal searches.
- At least 50 cities have cut ties with Flock this year, though 16 have returned in the past three months, and new customers currently outnumber lost ones roughly 7 to 1.
- A Washington Post analysis found at least 50 officers charged with or accused of misusing licence-plate readers, including for stalking.
- A Wisconsin officer accused of tracking his ex-girlfriend's abortion clinic visit via Flock cameras faces trial this month.
- Flock plans to announce additional abuse-prevention filters in the near future.
