What happened when someone with subpoena power went looking.

Oklahoma City renewed 5-3 after weeks of delay, with new restrictions

The council renewed the Flock contract 5-3. Changes: the city, not Flock, controls federal sharing; retention cut from 30 to 7 days; data removed from the nationwide sharing platform except case-by-case; manual audits every 30 days. Council heard that an officer had been suspended three days for personal database use in 2024-2025.

Those aren't numbers. Those are people impacted.

— Police Chief Ron Bacy

The other side This is an example of a contract renegotiated rather than ended.

Source · KGOU (NPR Oklahoma) · read it

Rhode Island governor ordered a 60-day pause and statewide State Police review

Gov. Dan McKee ordered a 60-day pause on new Flock installations pending a State Police review; existing cameras continue operating. South Kingstown voted unanimously to cancel; Narragansett, Glocester, Lincoln, and North Kingstown canceled or paused; Tiverton approved additional cameras 3-1.

Rhode Islanders also have legitimate questions about privacy, transparency, and how this information is collected, stored, and shared.

— Gov. Dan McKee

The other side State Police said the cameras aided a murder investigation, and the Police Chiefs' Association supported the review.

Source · Rhode Island Current · read it

404 Media: fusion centers circulated bulletins naming the DeFlock movement

404 Media obtained four "law enforcement sensitive" fusion-center bulletins — from the Colorado Information Analysis Center, Wisconsin Statewide Intelligence Center, Northeast Florida Fusion Center, North Florida Fusion eXchange, Central Florida Intelligence Exchange, New Jersey State Police and New Mexico All Source Intelligence Center — monitoring anti-Flock social media accounts and DeFlock's National Week of Action Against ALPRs (Aug 16–22, 2026), listing 11 Florida cities with planned events.

there is extensive and ongoing chatter on social media platforms such as Facebook and TikTok regarding various methods to interfere with or physically destroy Flock LPR cameras.

— A fusion-centre bulletin

The other side The bulletins mix accounts of vandalism with lawful petitioning and camera-mapping activity. Destroying cameras is a crime and this site condemns it without qualification.

Source · 404 Media · read it

West Virginia legislative interim committee questioned Flock directly

The committee opened three interim days of hearings on local government ALPR use, questioning Flock representatives on Fourth Amendment concerns, data security, and transparency.

Really what we're talking about is precision policing … providing law enforcement with that critical first clue.

— Flock's Kevin Kane

The other side Flock told the committee data is customer-owned, is not sold, that sharing is opt-in, and that it does not use facial recognition.

Source · Parkersburg News and Sentinel · read it

California SB 1013 pending; Newsom vetoed a predecessor bill

SB 1013 (Sen. Sabrina Cervantes) would cap police retention of plate data at 30 days absent an active investigation, restrict access and sharing, and bar contracts allowing default federal or out-of-state access. It is pending in Assembly Appropriations. Gov. Newsom vetoed a similar bill, SB 274, in 2025, citing cold-case and missing-persons concerns and audit costs. Rep. Thomas Massie has said he plans federal legislation withholding funds from jurisdictions deploying Flock cameras.

This bill is about one simple principle: Protecting the privacy and safety of Californians while ensuring law enforcement tools are used responsibly.

— State Sen. Sabrina Cervantes

The other side Flock's response: sharing with federal agencies is disabled by default, and ICE does not have direct access to Flock cameras, systems or data.

Source · CalMatters · read it

Pennsylvania — two competing ALPR bills in circulation

Rep. Tarik Khan (D) is circulating a bipartisan bill setting parameters on who may use ALPR data and for what, retention limits, transparency requirements and civil penalties for misuse. Reps. Brenda Pugh and Jamie Walsh (R) plan a bill barring private vendors from selling, transferring or licensing ALPR data without law enforcement authorization. Neither had been formally introduced. Citizen opposition campaigns were active in Munhall, Erie County and Bangor; in Franklin County residents cut down cameras and replaced them with American flags.

No one wants constitutional rights to be violated, especially in terms of privacy.

— Rep. Khan

Source · City & State Pennsylvania · read it

Counterpoint: Columbus, Ohio audit found zero ICE searches but thousands by other federal agencies

An audit released ahead of a City Council hearing found ICE ran zero searches on Columbus PD's Flock network, while U.S. Border Patrol and Homeland Security Investigations ran 3,962 searches, 657 of which were identified as possibly immigration-related. Of roughly 19.7 million total searches, 15,577 (under 0.1%) appeared immigration-related. After filters were added in late 2025, January–June 2026 showed zero immigration-related federal searches. CPD ended data-sharing with 287(g) agencies.

Technology like Flock can be an important tool for solving violent crime,

— Councilmember Emmanuel Remy

The other side This audit cuts the other way on ICE specifically, and is included for that reason.

Source · ABC 6 (WSYX) · read it

San Francisco PD audit: 299 illegal inquiries; DEA, IRS, US Marshals, Forest Service, two state police agencies

An SFPD internal audit presented to the Police Commission found 299 illegal inquiries into the department's Flock network over one year. Chief Derrick Lew said the accessing agencies did not include ICE or DHS directly but did include the DEA, IRS, U.S. Marshals, U.S. Forest Service, and Idaho and Oregon state police. He shut off access from the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center. The city's Human Rights Commission and Department of Police Accountability are investigating. This followed the earlier finding that out-of-state agencies had queried SFPD Flock data 1.6 million times.

As helpful as the Flock cameras have been for the department, they have also caused immediate concern.

— SFPD Chief Derrick Lew

The other side The chief said the accessing agencies did not include ICE or DHS directly, and shut off access from the regional intelligence centre.

Source · Mission Local · read it

Oregon SB 1516 and HB 2186; Virginia HB 2724; California SB 274 veto and the Cervantes bill

Virginia's HB 2724 (effective July 1, 2025) imposed 21-day retention, prohibited out-of-state and federal sharing, created a vendor-approval process and annual reporting. Oregon's SB 1516 (signed March 31, 2026) restricts ALPR data sharing to Oregon agencies only, barring interstate and federal access; Oregon HB 2186 sets 30-day retention absent a criminal inquiry or court proceeding. California's SB 274 (60-day retention plus randomized audits) passed the legislature but was vetoed by Gov. Newsom in October 2025. A new California bill by Sen. Sabrina Cervantes (Riverside) — 30-day deletion timelines, employee-access safeguards and deployment restrictions — passed the State Senate and is in the Assembly.

We've seen abuses throughout California with many counties who have abused this system. They've used ALPR systems to track immigrants, facilitate unlawful data sharing and even stalk and harass private citizens.

— State Sen. Sabrina Cervantes

The other side One state's governor vetoed a similar bill, citing cold-case and missing-persons concerns and audit costs.

Source · ObscureIQ state map · read it

Washington SB 6002, the Driver Privacy Act — first comprehensive state ALPR statute

Gov. Bob Ferguson signed SB 6002, codified as a new chapter of RCW Title 10. It limits ALPR use to enumerated purposes (stolen vehicles, missing/endangered persons, felony and gross-misdemeanor warrants, parking, impound, weigh-station and traffic-study uses); bans immigration enforcement use and tracking of constitutionally protected activity; bans data collection near healthcare facilities, schools, places of worship, courts, food banks and immigration-services facilities; sets retention from 12 hours to 30 days by purpose (21 days as the general standard); bars sharing except as required in a judicial proceeding; bars buying and selling plate data; requires a warrant before law enforcement may access ALPR data held by a private company; and mandates audit trails retained two years, system registration by Sept 30, 2026, and compliant use policies by Dec 1, 2027. Eight Washington municipalities had already shut cameras off: Everett, Redmond, Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, Stanwood, Sedro-Woolley, Skamania County and Olympia. Two Washington superior courts (Skagit, Nov 6, 2024; Snohomish, Feb 25, 2026) ruled ALPR footage is a public record.

a truly well-worked solution to a real problem

— Rep. Jim Walsh

Source · MRSC · read it

Bowling Green, Kentucky — AG upheld withholding of Flock camera locations from a records request

Journalist Morgan Watkins requested the locations of Bowling Green's Flock cameras; police refused. The Kentucky Attorney General ruled the department did not violate the open records law, finding camera locations tied to ongoing law enforcement efforts and exempt.

could reduce their effectiveness and interfere with police work

— The Attorney General's decision

The other side The decision is appealable to circuit court. This is a transparency ruling, not a misuse finding.

Source · WBKO · read it

ACLU model legislation and campaign figures

The ACLU’s plate-reader campaign published model state legislation in February 2026, filed a Fourth Circuit amicus brief in April 2026, and supported a bipartisan amendment to a federal highway funding bill in May 2026.

The other side This is an advocacy organisation's campaign.

Source · ACLU · read it

EFF: 50+ agencies ran protest-related Flock searches

EFF analyzed 10 months of Flock search data and identified more than 50 federal, state, and local agencies that ran searches tied to protests, including "No Kings," "Hands Off!," and 50501 demonstrations. In some cases searches targeted specific activist groups.

The other side Flock did not respond to a request for comment.

Source · The Record (Recorded Future News) · read it

Wyden and Krishnamoorthi ask FTC to investigate Flock's cybersecurity

The letter states Flock does not require multi-factor authentication for law enforcement accounts and does not natively support phishing-resistant MFA, relying on weaker methods such as SMS codes. It states at least 35 Flock customer account passwords were stolen and offered on cybercrime forums, and that password sharing among officers went undetected.

Flock does not require it, which the company confirmed to Congress in October.

— The letter to the Federal Trade Commission

The other side These are the senators' allegations. No FTC finding has been announced.

Source · U.S. Senate (Wyden) · read it

Wapello County, IA sheriff's SOP: "DO NOT MENTION ALPR USAGE"

A public-records request produced the sheriff's department's written Flock standard operating procedures, which instruct officers not to disclose ALPR use to vehicle occupants or in reports, and to substitute vague phrasing. The sheriff defended the practice as protecting investigative methods.

DO NOT MENTION ALPR USAGE TO THE OCCUPANTS OF THE VEHICLE. DO NOT MENTION ALPR USAGE IN YOUR REPORT OR COMPLAINT UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.

— The sheriff's written procedure

The other side The sheriff defended the practice as protecting investigative methods.

Source · 404 Media · read it

California Attorney General sued El Cajon over out-of-state ALPR sharing

AG Rob Bonta sued the City of El Cajon alleging it knowingly and repeatedly shared ALPR data with law enforcement agencies in 27 other states in violation of SB 34, which bars sharing ALPR data with federal and out-of-state agencies.

When information about Californians leaves the state, we no longer have any say over how it is used or shared.

— Attorney General Rob Bonta

The other side These are allegations in a pending civil action. El Cajon has contested the Attorney General's interpretation.

Source · California Office of the Attorney General · read it

Austin PD internal audit: over 20% of ALPR searches lacked justification

An Austin Police Department audit of its Flock pilot found more than 20% of database searches lacked proper documentation or justification, in violation of department policy. The audit also found contract language permitting retention beyond council-mandated limits and potential sharing with outside agencies. The council did not renew; the contract ended at the end of June 2025.

Today's victory in Austin is a tribute to what happens when a coalition of activist groups come together in common cause.

— Kevin Welch, EFF-Austin

Source · Electronic Frontier Foundation · read it