OKC Coverage
OKC Will Vote August 18 on Renewing Flock - With Restrictions, Not an End
The deferred renewal is back, and it is not a cancellation. On August 18 the Oklahoma City Council will vote on renewing the Flock contract with an amendment adding new restrictions, reported by Free Press OKC: every search logged and tied to a user with "regular audits" and discipline for "inappropriate access," a required stated reason for each search, keyword blocks on immigration and reproductive-health searches, data sharing limited to 109 named agencies instead of Flock's nationwide network, retention cut from 30 days to 7, and council sign-off before any new cameras. Finalizing that amendment is why the item was pulled from the August 4 agenda; the renewal would be retroactive to July 1, and OKCPD kept using Flock in the gap, publicizing a Flock lead in an August 6 murder arrest days before the vote. The sharpest problem is the audits. The amendment promises regular audits and discipline for misuse, from the same department that, weeks ago, confirmed in writing it runs no audit of this system and then formally denied the public the audit log that already exists. A rule you cannot verify is not oversight. Flock's own leaked coaching guide told police to "show the guardrails"; this is that page of the script. The demand has not changed: do not renew, remove the cameras, and do not keep running the network.
Read ArticleNews9 Explainer: "What Are Flock Cameras? Are There Any in OKC?" - and It Points Readers to DeFlockOKC
A major Oklahoma broadcast outlet ran a plain-language explainer on Flock, and cited DeFlockOKC as the source of record for how many cameras are in the city - "A community-run organized group, DeFlock OKC, said nearly 300 cameras are in OKC" - and linked readers directly to this site's camera list. The piece lays the debate out cleanly: the FOP's Mark Nelson says the cameras deter crime and do not photograph drivers; ACLU of Oklahoma executive director Tamya Cox-Touré counters that "all Oklahomans deserve the right to privacy, in some form in public" and that this surveillance interferes with it. Most notable for what comes next: State Senator Mary Boren (D-Norman) is pushing an interim study to set rules on who keeps Flock data, how long it is stored, and who can access it. Her framing: "We want privacy, and we want security. We shouldn't have to sacrifice our privacy to feel safe in Oklahoma." Reported by Destini Pittman.
Read ArticleOklahoma's Own Legislative Record Keeps Saying No to ALPR Expansion
News9's politics desk traced the Oklahoma legislative history of automated license plate readers, and it cuts hard against Flock. When lawmakers repealed the original 2013 plate-seizure statute in 2025 (House Bill 2215), Rep. Tom Gann recounted, committee members "were reassured that the automated license plate readers would only be used to enforce compulsory insurance law." That was the stated purpose. ACLU of Oklahoma executive director Tamya Cox-Touré told the same outlet the cameras are now "being used for much more than determining if someone has expired insurance, which was initially their purpose." The Legislature has also refused to widen ALPR authority: a 2024 bill to expand ALPR use on state right-of-way (SB 1620) was defeated in the Senate by 68%. Cox-Touré confirmed the ACLU petition to end OKC's contracts has passed 1,200 signatures, and that "about 55 localities" nationwide have ended Flock contracts this year. Sen. Mary Boren (D-Norman): "Good people, law-abiding people, should have the security to know that they can go around in private ways." Reported by Haley Hetrick.
Read ArticleOKC Council to Vote on Flock Camera Contract Renewal Next Tuesday
KOCO's pre-vote coverage from the week before OKC's originally scheduled renewal vote (since deferred by council). OKCPD Chief Ron Bacy is expected to present the department's case when the renewal lands on the agenda. The piece features DeFlockOKC's Jarrett Freeman on the aggregation problem - "you're not just doing point-in-place. You're doing point-in-place and time" - alongside the FOP calling the technology "instrumental," Oklahoma City resident Armando Garcia raising ICE-cooperation concerns, and a Southern Preserve HOA treasurer's textbook "if you've got nothing to hide" defense of the cameras. Also notable: Flock's corporate statement to KOCO makes specific claims about data ownership, local oversight, access controls, and effectiveness. Six of those claims are directly contradicted by the signed contract itself, side by side, in The Case, Section 04.
Read ArticleSurveillance or Safety? OKC City Council to Consider ALPR Contract Renewal
KOSU digital producer Abigail Siatkowski documents the coming council decision - and buries a bombshell: OKCPD's Operations Manual said in February that ALPR data "will not be shared" as part of a law enforcement database. In 2026, as the program came under national scrutiny and local records requests, the department quietly rewrote that sentence to permit sharing with System Administrator approval. Their explanation: policies are "periodically reviewed and updated." Also confirmed: Councilman James Cooper (Ward 2) has voted no on the 2023 signing and every renewal since - "I want the maximalist position of ending the contract, but I don't always get what I want, like a Rolling Stones song." Mayor Holt is on record defending Flock as public-space data with "no expectation of privacy."
Read ArticleActivists Sound Alarm Over Flock Cameras; Council Members Prep for Fight
Free Press OKC reports on the May 27 town hall: 100+ residents, three council members, and the ACLU joined to oppose Flock in Oklahoma City. Councilman James Cooper (Ward 2): "My preference is the maximalist position here" - full contract termination. Chad Marlow (ACLU): "Flock is the most problematic ALPR company in the country." Councilman Camal Pennington (Ward 7) expects "more intense conversations in the background" ahead of the July renewal.
Read ArticleOKC Residents Raise Privacy Concerns Over License Plate Reader Cameras
KOCO's coverage of the town hall - bringing the conversation about Flock surveillance to broadcast television audiences across central Oklahoma. The story reaches residents who may not yet realize OKC operates this system at all.
Read ArticleACLU and OKC Community Partners Come Together to Discuss Concerns About ALPRs
Pre-event coverage from The Gayly framing the town hall as a civil liberties moment affecting vulnerable populations - including immigrants, protesters, and others who depend on the ability to move through public space without warrantless tracking.
Read ArticleACLU and Community Partners Come Together to Discuss Concerns About ALPRs
Official press release announcing the May 27th "Get the FLOCK Out" Town Hall. Chad Marlow (ACLU National Senior Policy Counsel): "Oklahomans have a right to know more about Oklahoma City's use of automatic license plate readers. Nearly 50 cities have terminated their relationships with Flock in the past year." Backed by ACLU of Oklahoma, ACLU National, Dream Action OK, Oklahomans for Privacy, DeFlockOKC, and local council members.
Read Press ReleaseOKC's Quiet Flock Camera Rollout Ignites Big Brother Backlash
Hoodline covers the growing backlash against OKC's Flock camera program, highlighting the lack of public input and the community response to FOIA findings revealing zero oversight.
Read ArticlePolice Cameras Watch Every Car in OKC, But No One Tracks Who Uses Them
Carscoops covers FOIA findings showing OKCPD operates Flock cameras with no published access controls and no audit procedures to monitor who uses the system or why.
Read ArticleRecords Request Shows Lack of Transparency About Oklahoma City License Plate Reader Use
KOSU reports on FOIA findings revealing OKCPD lacks specific policies governing transparency and internal use of Flock cameras. No documented safeguards prevent unauthorized access, and Oklahoma has no statewide laws regulating ALPR use.
Read ArticleDocs Show Privacy, Oversight Concerns for Camera System Used by OKCPD
Free Press OKC reports on FOIA documents revealing OKCPD has no transparency reporting, no audit procedures, and no internal use policies for its 90-camera Flock system. OKCPD's own internal memo confirms the gaps.
Read ArticleOklahoma City to Boost Crime Solving by Adding AI-Powered License Plate Reading Cameras
Original 2023 coverage of OKC's decision to add Flock cameras. The framing was all upside, no questions about oversight, data sharing, or accountability. Three years later, the concerns are clear.
Read ArticleMore Coming
Local coverage is growing. Have a tip or a story? Reach out at DeFlockOKC@proton.me.
National Coverage
These national stories provide critical context about Flock Safety and ALPR surveillance across the country.
"Do Not Mention ALPR Usage": Police Told to Hide Flock From the People They Stop
A Wapello County, Iowa sheriff's standard operating procedure for its Flock cameras, obtained through a public records request, instructs deputies in capital letters: "DO NOT MENTION ALPR USAGE TO THE OCCUPANTS OF THE VEHICLE. DO NOT MENTION ALPR USAGE IN YOUR REPORT OR COMPLAINT UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY." When a report cannot avoid it, deputies are told to write "using county resources" instead of naming Flock, and to treat the camera hit like intelligence - a lead they "verified and acted on." That is parallel construction: hiding the surveillance from the person stopped and from the court unless a defense attorney asks the exact right question. 404 Media reports the FBI and DOJ have told departments in multiple states to be "as vague as permissible" about Flock searches. Sold as accountability; operated as concealment. Reported by Jason Koebler.
Read ArticlePolice Used Flock to Turn "Drives to Michigan" Into Probable Cause
A Wisconsin sheriff's deputy used Flock to track a man's car across state lines on Interstate 41, then justified searching it with the Flock data itself: the vehicle "travels to Michigan frequently which is a known source state for marijuana as it is legal there." To be precise, police did find marijuana and he was convicted of possession - this is not a wrongful-arrest story, it is a probable-cause story. The stated reason to search was not a crime, a tip, or a witness. It was a travel pattern pulled from a database of one man's movements. The same logic - "frequently travels to X, associated with Y" - reaches anyone who drives to a dispensary, a gun range, a protest, or a clinic. Reported by Jason Koebler from Wisconsin court records.
Read ArticleLeaked Flock Guide Teaches Police How to "Own the Narrative" Before City Councils
One day before Oklahoma City's renewal vote, 404 Media published a leaked Flock coaching guide that trains police to sell the cameras to city councils and manage opposition. Its most telling advice is about the words "mass surveillance": Flock strategist Jamie Hudson tells departments not to deny it - "Don't avoid the concept of mass surveillance because you're not going to convince opponents that it's not" - and to pivot instead to "governance." The guide instructs agencies to "own the narrative before someone else does," briefing city managers and council members privately "before public comment periods become the first introduction to the program," and its closing checklist includes "show the guardrails." Watch the script run in OKC: a quietly rewritten policy, a chief ready with local stats, and the renewal placed on the consent docket where it passes without debate. The one promise the playbook cannot keep here is oversight - OKCPD has confirmed in writing that it runs no audit and has denied the public the system's logs. Reported by Jason Koebler; leaked by a local activist fearing retaliation.
Read Article"Never Been Hacked" Meets Fifteen Published Vulnerabilities
Flock still tells cities its cameras have "never been hacked." As recently as July 24, 2026, the company's own security page reads: "No, Flock has never been hacked, and there has not been a leak of Flock information." Meanwhile the federal government's National Vulnerability Database lists fifteen separate CVEs against Flock hardware and software - two of them rated 9.8 of 10, the maximum critical severity: an administrative interface exposed with no authentication, and a password (flockhibiki17) hard-coded into the app that runs the cameras. Others include developer Wi-Fi credentials and API secrets stored in cleartext, Secure Boot switched off, and an unlocked bootloader. The vulnerabilities were surfaced by independent researcher Jon "GainSec" Gaines and by technologist Benn Jordan, whose team accessed live and recorded camera feeds over the open internet. Flock is correct that no breach has been proven - but a documented way in is not the same as a locked door, and Oklahoma City has produced no proof its own cameras are patched - and much of this cannot be patched at all: the cameras run Android 8, unsupported since 2021, and flaws like disabled Secure Boot and exposed debug interfaces are built into the hardware, not fixable by any update. "Never been hacked" is not "secure."
Search the NVDGeorgia Cops Keep Getting Arrested for Illegal Flock Camera Use
In Flock's home state, the arrests will not stop. Jalopnik rounds up the Georgia wave: three Cherokee County sheriff's deputies - a lieutenant, a sergeant, and a deputy who ran the tag of a fellow sheriff's-office employee - fired and arrested in June after the agency's self-initiated audit, each facing a felony oath-of-office charge; a DeKalb County sergeant with the agency since 2009 fired, arrested, and held without bond in July; three Fayetteville officers fired in mid-July after the department activated a new internal audit feature and immediately found them searching their own plates and those of family and friends, with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation called in; plus the five Albany officers arrested earlier in July. Atlanta media count at least 10 Georgia officers arrested in recent weeks and roughly 20 accused within the past year, with further cases reported in Richmond, Greene, and Henry counties. Every one was caught by an audit. Flock Safety is headquartered in Atlanta - the state that hosts the company keeps proving the misuse is not hypothetical. Oklahoma City, by OKCPD's own written admission, runs no audit at all. Reported by Collin Woodard.
Read ArticleOklahoma Sheriff Refuses Flock Cameras, Citing Privacy and Constitutional Rights
An elected Oklahoma law enforcement official reviewed Flock and said no - the same day Oklahoma City's own renewal vote was scheduled. Latimer County Sheriff Adam Woodruff announced on July 21, 2026 that his office will not use Flock cameras, after weighing "legitimate concerns across the country regarding privacy, data sharing, transparency, and the potential for misuse." His answer to whether the cameras are necessary for public safety: "I believe we can continue protecting our communities through proactive policing, strong partnerships with our citizens, and sound investigative work without creating a system that many residents feel could infringe on their privacy." Woodruff said the people of Latimer County "deserve both security and freedom" and pledged not to implement Flock while he serves. Reviewing the same technology OKC is being asked to renew, an Oklahoma sheriff decided his county is safer without it. Reported by Cassidy Mudd.
Read ArticleInvestigating Flock: America's Mass Surveillance Company
Benn Jordan, whose research anchors much of this site, teams up with Tommy G for a boots-on-the-ground investigation reaching an audience far beyond the usual privacy circles. What they found: Flock quietly relocated its headquarters behind a realty trust, operates its drone facility under front-company names, and a Flock supply chain manager on camera denied working for Flock before calling the police on the journalists - who were then detained. When Benn filed a Georgia records request for the police reports, the request was rejected as "cancelled due to no response" - the same silent-closure move OKC ran on OCPD-9710-2026. The video also resurfaced Flock CEO Garrett Langley's recorded remarks calling the DeFlock mapping project "terroristic organizations... closer to Antifa than they are anything else" - remarks Langley has now apologized for via Forbes. The company that says you have no expectation of privacy in public structures its own existence to avoid being found.
Watch VideoLAPD Halts Flock Safety Contract Amid Data Ownership Dispute
The Los Angeles Police Department, one of Flock's largest government customers, is not renewing its contract. LAPD Chief Information Officer Dean Gialamas: "The sticking point is around having very clear terms about who owns the data, what happens with the data once they collect it." The department will not use Flock "until we can get those data, privacy, security and sharing concerns ironed out." The decision followed an LAPD Inspector General audit finding that over a two-month period, LAPD investigated 161 car owners whose vehicles Flock had wrongly identified as stolen - nearly one in three of the system's stolen-vehicle alerts in that two-month audit (161 of 498, 32.3%) were false, and the Inspector General noted every false alert sent officers to stop an innocent driver. Flock's response to the departure: called it a "surprise." Landed as Oklahoma City's own renewal vote continues to be deferred by council. Reported by Suzanne Smalley at The Record.
Read ArticleOfficers Fired After Alleged Misuse of Controversial Surveillance Tool
Newsweek reporter Mandy Taheri documents the June 26 and June 29 terminations of Greer, South Carolina Police Department Corporal Kareem Lynch and Officer Sebastian Echeverry after the department's own internal audit surfaced violations of Greer PD's ALPR policy. City Administrator Andrew Merriman: "The City of Greer takes seriously the responsibility to protect the life, safety, and privacy of our citizens." The audit was conducted using Flock Safety's own built-in "Audit Assistant" tool. Published six days before Oklahoma City's originally scheduled renewal vote, since deferred by council. OKCPD confirmed in writing (OCPD-2885-2026, March 10, 2026) that no equivalent audit process exists in Oklahoma City. Greer caught its own officers. OKC has no comparable mechanism.
Read Article5 Albany, Georgia Officers Fired and Arrested After Flock's Own Audit Tool Surfaced ALPR Misuse
From Flock Safety's own July 8 press release: "Following an internal audit conducted by the Albany Police Department, five officers were terminated and subsequently arrested after investigators alleged they used license plate reader technology for purposes unrelated to legitimate law enforcement investigations." Discovery method: Flock's own built-in Audit Assistance tool. Flock Co-Founder Paige Todd, in the same press release: "Technology doesn't create misconduct. People do." A private surveillance vendor is confirming, in its own press release, that only an audit process can catch officer misuse after the fact. OKCPD confirmed in writing (OCPD-2885-2026, March 10, 2026) that no audit procedure for Flock exists in Oklahoma City. Five criminal arrests in Albany. Zero comparable mechanism here.
Read Press ReleasePasadena, Texas Sergeant Resigns Amid Flock-Stalking Investigation
Pasadena Police Sergeant Michael Palitz resigned while under an active internal investigation, the department confirmed. Pasadena City Council Member Emmanuel Guerrero, describing the alleged conduct: "Based on what we gathered, [he] was using our camera system, our Flock system, to track and stalk a female officer." Pasadena PD statement: "Yes, he resigned while under investigation. Regardless of his employment status, our investigation will continue in accordance with legal requirements until it reaches its conclusion." Discovery method: the Flock system itself flagged repeated account usage. Another jurisdiction that had a mechanism to catch stalking-by-cop. Oklahoma City does not.
Read ArticleBinghamton, NY City Council Proposes Legislation to End Flock Contract
During the Binghamton City Council meeting on July 13, 2026, legislation was formally proposed to end the City of Binghamton's contract with Flock Safety. Another city considering leaving. Every week, another one.
Read ArticleSafety Advocates Say Flock Camera Poles Are Being Installed in Violation of Federal Roadside Standards
Roadside safety advocate Steve Eimers, whose 17-year-old daughter was killed when a non-crashworthy guardrail speared her vehicle, has said he is "finding near 100% improper installation" of Flock camera poles - a statement he first made about installations in his home state of Tennessee, and one WGME's Maine I-Team cited when it examined poles on Route 100 in Falmouth. Reporting from WGME (Maine), KDVR and Yahoo (Colorado), Footnote4a (Iowa DOT permit records), and Maryville Residents for Privacy (Tennessee) documents poles set in the clear zone with no breakaway base, in direct tension with the federal MUTCD standard that requires supports within the clear zone to be breakaway, yielding, or shielded. Flock's own stated policy is that "advanced breakaway poles are used on Department of Transportation managed roadways, highways and other higher-speed corridors, or when required by the jurisdiction overseeing the roadway." Flock has defended specific installations or pointed to jurisdiction confusion. OKC's roadside inventory has never been publicly audited against the same standard - Round 2 Request #11 asks the city to produce the paper trail.
Read WGME Maine I-TeamOshkosh Council Rescinds Flock Camera Contract After False Statements
Police Chief Dean Smith reversed the contract less than 24 hours after approval - because Flock lied to city council, claiming their systems "did not create heat maps to track vehicles." The chief: "I will not betray that trust." Flock's response? The statements were "misinterpreted and weaponized by activists" - the same language their CEO used when Benn Jordan exposed security vulnerabilities. The pattern is consistent: when caught, blame the people asking questions.
Read ArticleFederal Lawsuit: San Jose's 474-Camera Flock Network Is Unconstitutional Mass Surveillance
IJ filed a federal class action arguing San Jose's Flock system violates the Fourth Amendment. 474 cameras recorded over 360 million images in 2024. More than 1,000 officers and 300 outside agencies can search the data. Only 0.25% of images matched any hotlist. Lead plaintiff: "I know what an authoritarian surveillance state looks like."
Read ArticleFlock Safety Hits $8.4 Billion Valuation as Nationwide Protests Grow
Flock has raised nearly $1 billion in total funding, backed by Andreessen Horowitz. Now valued at $8.4B - up from $7.5B just a year ago - while operating across 5,000+ law enforcement agencies. The surveillance business is booming even as more than 50 cities cancel contracts and protests target their Atlanta headquarters.
Read ArticleFlock Safety's Free Trial Playbook: How a $7.5 Billion Surveillance Company Gets Into Your City
Investigation into how Flock uses free trials to get cameras installed before cities have policies, oversight, or public input in place - then locks them into contracts. A pattern documented across dozens of municipalities nationwide.
Read ArticleTompkins County, NY Terminates Flock Safety Contract
County legislature voted 12-1 to end the Flock contract, citing community opposition and a vendor they described as "untrustworthy and not aligned with the county's values." Neighboring Ithaca made a similar decision earlier in 2026.
Read ArticleVirginia Police Search Flock Surveillance Data 24/7. It Isn't Always Clear Why.
Deep investigation found Virginia police agencies querying Flock data around the clock, often without clear legal justification. Documents reveal a pattern of constant, unchecked access to the surveillance network.
Read ArticleWhy More Cities Are Suddenly Pulling The Plug On Flock Safety Cameras
Austin, Cambridge, Flagstaff, Mountain View, Lynnwood, Coralville, Staunton, and more - a growing wave of cities are terminating Flock contracts over privacy and unauthorized data sharing concerns.
Read ArticleEFF's Investigations Expose Flock Safety's Surveillance Abuses: 2025 in Review
EFF obtained 12M+ search logs from 3,900+ agencies, revealing protest surveillance, racist profiling of Romani people, and an abortion investigation in Texas.
Read ArticleHow Cops Are Using Flock Safety's ALPR Network to Surveil Protesters and Activists
Tulsa PD was one of the most consistent users of Flock for investigating protests, logging at least 38 searches. Officers probed the nationwide network with terms like "protest" without specifying a crime.
Read ArticleFlock Safety and Texas Sheriff Claimed Search Was for a Missing Person. It Was an Abortion Investigation.
Texas deputies queried Flock data in an abortion investigation, searching 83,345 cameras across 6,809 networks with the note "had an abortion, search for female."
Read ArticleOklahoma Interim Study Focuses on License Plate Readers, Privacy Concerns
Rep. Tom Gann's second annual ALPR study before the House Public Safety Committee. More than 50 Oklahoma agencies use Flock, and the data is being used well beyond what state law allows.
Read ArticleState Lawmakers Study Privacy Concerns with Flock Cameras, Possible Legislative Solutions
Oklahoma lawmakers address Flock cameras under scrutiny for public safety and personal data protection. Criminal defense attorney Shena Burgess testified on violations of Oklahoma law.
Read ArticleOklahoma Lawmakers Examine Privacy Issues with Flock Cameras
News9 covers Rep. Tom Gann's interim study examining the balance between public safety and citizen privacy. Lawmakers questioned whether Flock's data collection exceeds what Oklahoma law permits.
Read ArticleFlock Traffic Cameras Track Everything, Except the Cops Misusing Them
A Wisconsin police officer faces felony charges for using Flock cameras to improperly search for a victim's vehicles. The case highlights exactly why audit logging and oversight policies matter.
Read ArticleLynnwood Becomes First WA City to Cancel Active Flock Safety Contract
Council voted 7-0 to terminate after a UW report revealed out-of-state agencies made 100,000+ searches into Lynnwood's network, including 16 related to immigration enforcement.
Read ArticleVirginia Police Used Flock Cameras to Track Driver 526 Times in 4 Months, Lawsuit Says
Norfolk's 176 cameras logged a retired veteran's location 526 times - about four times per day. The Institute for Justice filed a federal Fourth Amendment challenge.
Read ArticleAI Surveillance: Unmasking Flock Safety's Insecurities
Independent researcher Jon "GainSec" Gaines documented 51 security findings including 22 CVEs. "If a lone researcher can gain root access to Flock cameras, nation state actors can also."
Read ArticleEFFecting Change: Get the Flock Out of Our City
EFF profiles the growing national movement of cities canceling Flock contracts and citizens organizing against ALPR mass surveillance.
Read ArticleInterim Study Held Over Misuse of ALPR Cameras
Oklahoma coverage of Rep. Gann's ALPR study. Marven Goodman testified about successfully removing Flock cameras from SH-33 and getting Guthrie to terminate its contract.
Read ArticleStatement on the Flock Safety ALPR Contract Termination
Cambridge deactivated and removed 16 Flock ALPRs. Flock then installed two cameras without the city's awareness, further confirming trust concerns.
Read ArticleCities and States Are Cutting Ties with Flock Safety License Plate Readers
NPR reports on the growing wave: more than 50 cities have ended Flock contracts since January 2025, and Amazon killed their Ring-Flock partnership in February 2026.
Read ArticleMountain View Police Chief Recommends Ending Flock Safety Contract
Police chief herself recommended termination after discovering Flock had enabled nationwide search without police knowledge, allowing ATF and federal agencies to access local data for 17 months.
Read ArticleFlock Safety Cameras Exposed Live Video Feeds
Investigation found 60+ Flock cameras streaming live video without authentication. A system marketed as a "license plate reader" was actually capturing continuous video accessible to anyone who knew where to look.
Read ArticleWyden, Krishnamoorthi Urge FTC Investigation of Flock Safety
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi formally requested an FTC investigation into Flock Safety's cybersecurity practices and data handling claims.
Read ArticleResearch & Analysis
In-depth resources documenting Flock Safety's capabilities, contracts, security vulnerabilities, and the peer-reviewed research on whether ALPRs actually reduce crime.
Peer-Reviewed: A City Put ALPRs on Every Entrance and Exit. Violent Crime Did Not Drop.
The most rigorous test of the "cameras reduce crime" claim. Researchers led by Eric Piza evaluated a major ALPR expansion in Atlantic City, where police installed fixed readers on every entrance and exit to scan every vehicle moving in or out of the city. The peer-reviewed evaluation found the expansion was not associated with a reduction in violent crime. A December 2025 review in the Cambridge Journal of Evidence-Based Policing reached the same posture: on whether ALPRs actually achieve public-safety goals, "the jury is still out." When a department is asked to prove these cameras work, this is the research it has to answer.
Read StudyIPVM: Flock-Powered Police Chiefs Caught Stalking Women
The surveillance-industry research outlet IPVM documents a recurring pattern - law enforcement officials using Flock to track romantic partners and other private citizens - and argues the only real fix is warrants and audits, which most agencies, OKCPD included, do not have. IPVM has separately reported on Flock labeling its own critics "terrorists" while dismissing documented abuses. Independent, technical, and skeptical of both the vendor and the hype.
Read ReportFlock's Terms and Conditions
The ACLU's national analysis of Flock's contract terms - how they've evolved to strip cities of control over their own data, grant Flock perpetual licensing rights, and force arbitration in Georgia courts. Essential reading before any renewal vote.
Read AnalysisFlock ALPR Community Toolkit
CC BY-SA 4.0 toolkit with council handouts, legal analysis, 3-minute talk tracks, mayor briefings, and deep research reports. Battle-tested materials for community advocacy. 10 documents in multiple formats.
View ToolkitWe Hacked Flock Safety Cameras in Under 30 Seconds
Independent researcher and musician Benn Jordan demonstrates security vulnerabilities in Flock hardware, builds an alternative ALPR system for $250 that outperforms Flock's, and develops adversarial noise techniques to confuse license plate readers. Essential viewing.
Watch VideoThis Flock Camera Leak Is Like Netflix for Stalkers
Jordan and 404 Media find at least 60 Flock cameras streaming live without authentication - including one at a children's playground. Demonstrates that anyone with a search engine could watch live or browse 30 days of archived footage. Flock's CEO responded by claiming deployed cameras were secure - Jordan then read Flock's own security claims aloud from an unsecured, publicly deployed camera.
Watch VideoFlock Employees Are Watching Your Children
Public records reveal Flock's VP of Business Development searched a city's database 63 times. Multiple Flock employees accessed cameras inside a community gym - including the pool, fitness studio, and a children's gymnastics room. When Jordan presented these findings to Dunwoody city council, the contract vote was delayed twice.
Watch on YouTubeCheck If Your License Plate Is in Flock's Audit Logs
Built by researcher Jason Hunyar using publicly available Flock audit data. Search your plate to see if it appears in published network audit logs from law enforcement agencies. This is how Milwaukee's stalking case was discovered - by a victim checking their own plate.
Check Your PlateFlock Patent US11416545B1: Person Classification
Flock's own patent describes classifying people by race, gender, height, weight, and clothing in searchable databases. Directly contradicts their public claims about system capabilities.
View Patent