Surveillance technology company Flock announced in August 2026 a series of new policies for its automated license plate reader systems, including making its “Audit Assistance” tool mandatory for all law enforcement customers by the end of the year. The company claims the tool has already helped catch officers abusing its platform, but has not publicly explained in detail how it works.
Flock launched Audit Assistance in April 2026. The company describes it as a data tool that “detects abnormal activity and flags it for Administrator review,” with the ability to automatically lock out flagged users until an administrator intervenes. More than one-third of Flock’s customers had enabled it voluntarily before the company announced it would be required for all customers. Flock confirmed to TechCrunch that the tool is not based on machine learning or AI, describing it instead as a system that flags atypical search patterns — for example, a user searching the same plate using multiple different case codes.
Additional changes announced alongside Audit Assistance include a recommendation that police departments retain data for seven days rather than the previous 30 days, a new “Evidence Mode” for exceptional cases requiring longer retention tied to a specific case number, and new controls allowing customers to limit data sharing based on offense type.
The announcements follow reported incidents of Flock’s technology being misused. Earlier in the same week, three former Georgia sheriff’s deputies were arrested and accused of using Flock cameras to stalk people with whom they had a personal relationship. Bibb County Sheriff David Davis credited Audit Assistance with uncovering that misuse.
Privacy and civil liberties organizations expressed skepticism. ACLU senior policy counsel Chad Marlow wrote that “there is no evidence that the tool works consistently,” arguing that without knowing the total number of officers misusing the system, it is impossible to gauge how many abusers the tool actually catches. The Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Cooper Quintin suggested that even a functioning tool may be insufficient if abusers face no real consequences. The Brennan Center’s Rachel Levinson-Waldman called the mandatory rollout “a step in the right direction” but said the tool “needs to be audited.”
Key questions remain unanswered, including the tool’s false positive and false negative rates, whether it has been independently audited, and whether Flock has data demonstrating its overall effectiveness.
Source: TechCrunch