Flock Safety cuts license-plate data retention after reports of officer misuse

Flock Safety said on August 13, 2026 it will cut the default retention period for license-plate data from 30 days to 7 days. It is the most concrete of a set of privacy changes the company announced after reporting documented dozens of cases of officers accused of misusing its automated license-plate-reader (ALPR) system, including to stalk current or former romantic partners.

Alongside the shorter retention window, Flock said in its announcement it is adding an ‘Evidence Mode’ to preserve data tied to an active case and letting cities filter which offense types outside agencies can search for. The company is also making its ‘Audit Assistance’ tool, which flags abnormal searches, and case-code requirements mandatory for all law-enforcement customers by the end of 2026, adding a ‘proactive lockout’ for flagged accounts and requiring multi-factor authentication for every user.

Flock commissioned an independent security review from the firm Bishop Fox, with findings due in September 2026, and said its system produces fewer than nine human-reported errors per million alerts — a company figure that has not been independently verified.

‘An alert is a lead, not a conclusion, which should be confirmed by an officer,’ Chief Executive Garrett Langley said.

The changes answer a growing backlash over how ALPR data is stored and searched, but they are self-imposed rather than mandated. Whether the new limits hold depends on enforcement Flock controls and an outside review that has not yet reported.