Flock, the automatic license plate reader (ALPR) company with a presence in thousands of communities across the U.S., has stopped agencies across the country from searching cameras inside Illinois, California, and Virginia, 404 Media has learned. The dramatic moves come after 404 Media revealed local police departments were repeatedly performing lookups around the country on behalf of ICE, a Texas officer searched cameras nationwide for a woman who self-administered an abortion, and lawmakers recently signed a new law in Virginia. Ordinarily Flock allows agencies to opt into a national lookup database, where agencies in one state can access data collected in another, as long as they also share their own data. This practice violates multiple state laws which bar the sharing of ALPR data out of state or it being accessed for immigration or healthcare purposes.
The changes also come after a wave of similar coverage in local and state-focused media outlets, with many replicating our reporting to learn more about what agencies are accessing Flock cameras in their communities and for what purpose. The Illinois Secretary of State is investigating whether Illinois police departments broke the law by sharing data with outside agencies for immigration or abortion related reasons. Some police departments have also shut down the data access after learning it was being used for immigration purposes.
“Some states, like California, do not allow any sharing across state borders. For those states, Flock has disabled National Lookup to make compliance easier,” Flock CEO Garrett Langley wrote in a public blog post on June 19.
In that blog post, titled “Setting the Record Straight: Statement on Flock Network Sharing, Use Cases, and Federal Cooperation,” Langley says he is writing to provide transparency on “recent clickbait-driven reporting and social media rumors that mischaracterize Flock’s LPR devices.” Rather than refuting any of our reporting, he instead explains that as a result of it, Flock has decided to perform numerous internal audits about how police are using the network that exactly aligns with 404 Media’s reporting, and that Flock has decided to make specific changes to how Flock works to ensure that local police are complying with state data sharing laws, which include disabling the national lookup tool in California.
That post followed another published by the company a few days earlier, which discussed an audit Flock conducted on what agencies were accessing data in Illinois. “Since we initiated the audit in May, 47 agencies have been removed from access to Illinois data,” that blog post reads.
Flock has also removed the national lookup feature for cameras in Virginia, according to an internal Flock message viewed by 404 Media. 404 Media granted the source who shared it anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak to the press. On Tuesday a Flock spokesperson confirmed in an email to 404 Media that the changes to Virginia data access are complete.
In May, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin signed a new law which will limit the use of such data to specific criminal investigations, human trafficking, stolen vehicles, and missing persons cases, the local TV outlet WAVY reported. The law comes into effect July 1, the report added.
Flock cameras work by continuously scanning the plates, model, and color of vehicles driving by. Law enforcement can then access data collected from their own cameras, but Flock also allows state and nationwide lookups. For a nationwide search, agencies are able to search other police departments’ cameras if they in turn make theirs available for search. But this can result in illegal data sharing if such access violates state law.
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404 Media reported in May that local police around the country were performing Flock lookups on behalf of ICE. That included lookups on cameras administered by the Danville, Illinois Police Department, triggering the audit there. 404 Media also reported cops in California are illegally sharing Flock data with agencies out of state, and searched cameras related to an “immigration protest.”
Flock says it conducted an internal audit of agencies that had access to Illinois data. If an agency was found to have affirmed compliance with Illinois law while also conducting multiple searches using reasons impermissible under state law, then Flock revoked their access to Illinois data. Flock also wrote that “All out of state agencies with access to Illinois data are being re-educated on Illinois-specific legal requirements and product functionality,” and that the company is placing new emphasis on “responsible sharing, with updated training content, in-product guidance, and communications to reinforce compliance.”
Flock also said it launched a new tool that blocks impermissible searches in real time. “If a search involving Illinois camera data includes terms that indicate an impermissible purpose under Illinois law, the Illinois data will automatically be excluded,” the company wrote.
Flock said it also has plans for an AI-based tool that will identify suspicious searches and allow agencies to require case numbers when their cameras are searched (as opposed to the vague reasons such as “immigration” in some of the data 404 Media obtained).
404 Media’s investigation into local police departments performing Flock lookups for ICE was based on a “Network Audit” obtained by researchers by public records requests. A Network Audit shows what agency searched another agency's Flock cameras, and for what stated purpose. The investigation into a Flock search performed for “had an abortion, search for female,” was based on Network Audits from other police departments obtained by 404 Media. The sheriff in that case said the family was worried for the woman’s safety and so authorities used Flock in an attempt to locate her.
Since publishing those articles and much of the related data, other outlets have dug into the information themselves. For example, Suncoast Searchlight used the data we published to find the Florida Highway Patrol tapped Flock cameras to aid immigration crackdowns; the Evanston Roundtable used it to find its police department shared access to its cameras with agencies that performed searches related to immigration; the Central Current reports officials in Syracuse, New York, are investigating their data sharing practices the outlet reviewed the data; and KUSA-TV Denver found Loveland Police Department’s Flock cameras were used for “ICE” searches.
And several cities have decided not to renew or expand their contracts with Flock. The City of Austin let its contract with Flock lapse, in part because of concerns around ICE access to the data. The City of San Marcos decided to not place additional cameras in the city. The San Marcos Police Department also changed their policy to require outside law enforcement agencies to file a request concerning a specific crime in order to receive Flock data, Spectrum News 1 reported.
The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety said it blocked outside access to its cameras after learning the data was being searched by departments “focused on immigration-related violations,” local media reported.
“License plate readers can serve as an important tool for law enforcement, but these cameras must be regulated so they aren’t abused for surveillance, tracking the data of innocent people or criminalizing lawful behavior. No one seeking legal healthcare services in Illinois should face harassment or jail—period,” Secretary Giannoulias told 404 Media in a statement.
Flock declined to comment further on its changes to California data access.
(copying my comment from another post)