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Surveillance technology company Flock announced significant policy changes following widespread reports of law enforcement officials misusing its tracking systems for personal purposes. The company’s CEO, Garrett Langley, acknowledged in recent comments that Flock bears greater responsibility for preventing abuse than previously stated, marking a notable shift in the company’s position on oversight accountability.
The upcoming updates include making a feature called Audit Assistance mandatory for all users, which detects suspicious search patterns and temporarily blocks accounts pending administrator review. Additionally, officers will be required to enter case codes before conducting searches, with emergency exceptions available for situations such as missing persons investigations. Police departments will also have new options to limit data sharing between agencies based on specific crime types rather than granting blanket access across all investigation categories.
These changes respond to documented cases where officers allegedly exploited Flock’s license plate reader data to track ex-partners and others without legitimate law enforcement purposes. A Georgia police chief reportedly searched his ex-girlfriend’s vehicle information over 500 times within seven months. The company is also reducing its standard data retention period from 30 days to seven days, aligning with recommendations from civil liberties organizations. Langley indicated that only one-third of agencies had voluntarily enabled Audit Assistance since its April launch, but departments using it reported increased detection of abuse.
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Originally reported by Theverge →
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