Flock Cameras Won’t Be Working With The Feds, For Now

Flock Safety, the company which makes and manages Flock cameras, has been in the middle of some controversy lately. Different media reports indicated the company has been working with the US Customs and Border Protection as well as Homeland Security Investigations, sparking public outcry.

Dashcam shows Grappler Bumper rip rear axle off car.

There are a lot of accusations about what Flock already is doing with the vast amounts of data it’s been collecting in cities through the country. Chances are, you regularly drive past the rather inconspicuous cameras which are supposed to only read license plates on cars.

Some believe the cameras do more than that, but even if they don’t, having license plate info tied to locations at different dates and times is a lot of information for a company to be wielding.

But Flock has decided to get out in front of the public rage and clarify that it doesn’t current have a “contractual relationship” with a member of the US Department of Homeland Security, it has run “limited pilots” with CBP and HSI.

Those programs were apparently limited to fighting fentanyl and human trafficking. Not everyone will take the company’s word for it, but that’s what it’s saying.

What it doesn’t say is that it isn’t maintaining any relationships with other federal agencies. That’s interesting.

Of course, local police agencies often emphasize their relationship with Flock and usage of its cameras doesn’t constitute a violation of anyone’s privacy. In a way they have a good point since your license plate is out on display when you drive down the road, so there’s no expectation of privacy.

Plus, cops say the license plate info is only kept in the Flock system for 30 days. At least that’s how long law enforcement has access to it. But does anyone know for sure that Flock purges that data from its servers, or do we all just get a pinkie promise?

Flock is working on some other new stuff to fight crime, so whether it teams up with the feds or not later (it probably will) there are some even bigger fish to fry.

Image via Flock Safety