This browser does not support the Video element.
Flock reveals changes amid privacy concerns
Flock is changing how its license plate readers store and provide access to data after a lot of backlash over privacy and surveillance concerns. FOX 13’s Kellie Cowan reports.
Flock camera safety tools
What we know:
FLORIDA - Flock Safety is tightening the rules surrounding its vast network of automated license plate reader cameras as the company faces growing concerns about privacy and police misuse.
Flock cameras automatically photograph passing vehicles, capturing license plates and other vehicle details. Law enforcement agencies can then search that information to help find stolen vehicles, missing people, or suspects in criminal investigations.
Thousands of law enforcement agencies across 49 states can access Flock data, according to the Associated Press.
But recent cases across the country have also highlighted how that technology can be abused by officers with access to the system.
More than 50 law enforcement officers have reportedly been accused of or charged with misusing Flock cameras. The majority of these documented cases involve officers allegedly tracking current or former romantic partners, and others related to them.
Flock CEO Garrett Langley says the company is now making several safeguards mandatory.
Mandatory search case codes
What we know:
One of the biggest changes involves a Flock tool called Audit Assistance.
Introduced earlier this year as an optional feature, it looks for unusual search patterns and flags them for review by an agency administrator. Those patterns could include an officer repeatedly searching for the same license plate or conducting searches while off duty.
Langley said thousands of Flock's customers voluntarily activated the tool.
"We built a tool about four months ago to automatically flag potentially abusive behavior," Langley said. "About a third of our customers optionally turned it on... As of today, we are now requiring all of law enforcement to use this."
Flock says users flagged for potential misuse will also be automatically locked out of the system while their activity is reviewed.
By the end of the year, law enforcement searches will also be required to include a case code tying the search to a criminal investigation. Flock says officers will be able to bypass that requirement during emergencies, but those searches will automatically be flagged for review.
Flock is also changing how long license plate images are stored by default, reducing its standard retention period from 30 days to seven days.
Agencies will have the ability to change this setting, and will not be required to delete its data after seven days. Communities will still be able to choose different retention periods, and records connected to active investigations can be preserved as evidence.
Another change will give local agencies greater control over how other jurisdictions use their camera data. Agencies will be able to limit access based on the type of investigation, potentially allowing searches for crimes such as homicide or stolen vehicles while blocking other uses, including immigration enforcement.
You can read Flock's announcement here.
The Florida cases
Local perspective:
The changes come as several Florida law enforcement officers have faced recent allegations involving the misuse of automated license plate reader systems.
In Haines City, police officer Christopher Goodson was arrested after investigators alleged he searched Flock data for his estranged wife's vehicle more than 700 times between September 2024 and June 2026.
According to an arrest affidavit cited in published reports, Goodson allegedly entered reasons such as "Criminal Motor Vehicle Offense" and "Drugs/Narcotics" to justify some searches even though his estranged wife was not under criminal investigation. Goodson reportedly told investigators he was using the system to determine where his children were while they were with their mother.
In Sumter County, Detective Brandy Almany was fired and criminally charged after investigators alleged she used Flock and other law enforcement databases to track her husband's ex-wife.
In Niceville, former police officer Coty Hall pleaded no contest to charges after authorities said he used the department's Flock system to track another officer and that officer's spouse.
In Orange City, Officer Jarmarus Brown was charged in 2025 after investigators accused him of using license plate readers to track a woman with whom he'd had a relationship. Investigators said Brown searched plates associated with the woman and members of her family more than 100 times over several months.
Another Florida case involved Monroe County Sheriff's Deputy Lamar Roman, who authorities accused of using an automated license plate reader system to track an actress he met while working security on a television set.
That case did not involve Flock's system. The Institute for Justice identifies the ALPR system as Guardian.
The Institute for Justice, which opposes warrantless mass surveillance and is litigating against the use of ALPR technology, says its ongoing review has identified dozens of cases nationwide in which officers allegedly used license plate reader systems to track romantic interests.
Local police misuse cases
What they're saying:
Langley directly addressed cases of police officers accused of abusing Flock's system in a video announcing the changes.
He said Flock's Audit Assistance tool has already surfaced suspicious activity that led agencies to investigate their own officers.
"We are now making this accountability system mandatory for every customer, and we have instituted automatic lockouts for users who are flagged for potential misuse," Langley said.
Langley also pushed back on the idea that the recent headlines demonstrate a failure of the company's safeguards.
"Those headlines are not the scandal," Langley said. "They are the success of safeguards working."
Flock says police departments are ultimately responsible for how their officers use the technology, but Langley said the company also has a responsibility to make misuse easier to identify.
"Police departments are our customers, and we have built a capability designed to catch their worst actors," Langley said.
Privacy advocates demand warrants
The other side:
Privacy advocates say Flock's changes don't resolve their broader concerns about creating a nationwide, searchable record of where vehicles have traveled.
Robert Frommer, a senior attorney with the Institute for Justice, called the changes "window dressing," telling the Associated Press that police officers still largely decide when and whom to search rather than being required to first obtain a warrant.
The American Civil Liberties Union said that shortening the default data retention period could be a step in the right direction but criticized other safeguards as insufficient.
Flock maintains its technology is a valuable crime-fighting tool that has helped law enforcement find missing people, recover stolen vehicles, and investigate serious crimes.
Undetected database misuse
What we don't know:
It remains unclear how many instances of improper license plate reader searches have gone undetected.
The Institute for Justice says its list of known cases is likely an undercount because misconduct may never be discovered or publicly reported.
It is also unclear how much the mandatory safeguards will reduce misuse once they are implemented across Flock's law enforcement customers.
The new auditing system is designed to identify unusual behavior, but it does not necessarily prevent an officer from conducting an improper search in the first place. Flock says users flagged by the system can be locked out while the activity is reviewed. However, there is not a mandate that agencies conduct audits of their use of the system.
Langley said states should pass laws requiring audits of law enforcement databases.
"To state legislators, make this a law. Require real auditing on every law enforcement data system in your state, including your own."
The Source: This story was reported using Flock Safety's Aug. 13 announcement detailing its new privacy, security and accountability measures; a video statement from Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley; reporting from Fox 13, the Associated Press, and the Institute for Justice's database of reported license plate reader misuse cases.