By admin 
Flock Safety, the company behind a nationwide network of automated license plate-reading cameras, said it would change how law enforcement agencies could use its technology following growing concerns about police access to surveillance data.
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Flock CEO Garrett Langley said several safeguards that were previously optional would become mandatory for law enforcement customers beginning Jan. 1.
Among the changes is a new auditing system designed to detect unusual or potentially abusive searches. When the system identifies abnormal behavior, the officer will be locked out while the activity is reviewed.
Atlanta-based Flock Safety also said it would shorten its standard data-retention period from 30 days to seven days, although information tied to criminal investigations could still be kept longer. Officers would also be required to enter a case number before conducting searches, a safeguard long sought by civil liberties advocates. Emergency searches would be automatically flagged for review.
Police departments would also gain more control over how outside agencies searched their data. Cities and departments would be able to limit searches to specific crimes, potentially allowing them to block searches related to immigration enforcement.
Langley said the changes are intended to improve transparency and rebuild public trust.
“Police abuse is something that I think is unacceptable to everyone,” Langley said in an interview with CNN. “It erodes the trust of a community.”
The changes come as communities across California continue to debate the use of automated license plate readers, known as ALPRs, and the balance between public safety and privacy.
The technology is widely used across the Sacramento region.
Police departments and sheriff’s offices in Sacramento, Elk Grove, Folsom, Galt, Placer County, Yolo County and other nearby areas use Flock cameras. Together, the cameras create a large network that can track license plates across an area with about 2.2 million people.
In Grass Valley, police stopped using Flock cameras indefinitely this week. The decision came as concerns grew about privacy and how quickly surveillance technology is changing.
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Concerns also remained about how agencies shared the information collected by the cameras.
A review by the advocacy group DeFlock Elk Grove found that more than 3,600 organizations searched Elk Grove residents’ license plate data more than 8.3 million times between 2021 and March 2026. The group said about 97% of those searches were made by outside agencies.
In Roseville, police records also raised questions about the cameras’ accuracy.
Flock cameras produced 1,427 alerts for vehicles reported stolen or linked to felony cases between 2023 and 2024. About 71% of those alerts, or 1,011, were caused by the cameras misreading license plates. Police said none of those errors led to a wrongful traffic stop or arrest.
Cities also are spending large amounts of money on the technology.
The Elk Grove City Council recently approved a new Flock Safety contract that runs through 2028 and costs more than $1.6 million.
Langley said the company’s new safeguards were meant to address concerns about accountability while preserving the crime-solving benefits of the system.
Flock said its technology helped law enforcement solve more than 1 million crimes and locate more than 10,000 missing people last year.
Langley said the company’s new safeguards are meant to address concerns over accountability while preserving the crime-solving benefits of the system.
Flock says its technology helped law enforcement solve more than 1 million crimes and locate more than 10,000 missing people last year.
But when asked what he would say to people who believed they had been victimized by Flock’s technology and did not trust that the changes would protect them, Langley offered an apology.
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“I’m sorry that the system has failed you,” he said.
This story was originally published August 13, 2026 at 12:18 PM.