Federal judge Sara Hill ruled that a Tulsa County deputy's warrantless search of Flock's nationwide license-plate reader database violated the Fourth Amendment, suppressing evidence of roughly 91 pounds of methamphetamine found during the stop. The case began when a deputy tailed a car solely because of its out-of-state plates, then used Flock's database to review over 50 prior sightings of the vehicle before searching it. Separately, Senators Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have introduced legislation to ban license plate reader networks like Flock's nationwide.
techspot.com
· 2026-10-03
Senator Bernie Sanders introduced the Ban Flock Act, which would prohibit federal agencies from operating automatic license plate reader systems or accessing data from such systems run by local police or private vendors like Flock. The bill allows exceptions only for toll collection and future congressional approvals capped at 48-hour data retention, and would cut federal grants to state and local governments that fail to comply, while allowing lawsuits and enforcement by state attorneys general.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-03
Several US municipalities, including Fort Worth, Castle Rock, Dunwoody, Fulton County and Middletown, are piloting or adopting Flock's Drones-as-First-Responder system, which launches rooftop-docked drones automatically in response to 911 calls, license-plate alerts, or gunshot detection. Fort Worth's two-month pilot logged 162 drone dispatches with a 112-second average response time, arriving first at 76 calls and letting officers clear 11 without an in-person visit. Flock gained its drone capability by acquiring Aerodome, a maker of drones with HD and thermal cameras.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-10-02
After canceling its Flock contract, St. Lucie County, Florida discovered 66 license-plate-reading cameras installed instead of the 52 it had authorized. The sheriff's office admitted to owning three of the extras without explaining their deployment, leaving 11 cameras that no local police agency has claimed. The county has wrapped the unclaimed devices in plastic with notices stating they will be removed within 30 days.
techspot.com
· 2026-10-02
After St. Lucie County, Florida decided to stop using Flock surveillance cameras and began removing them, officials discovered 14 devices beyond the 52 they believed were installed. The Sheriff's Office later claimed three of those unpermitted cameras without explaining the lack of paperwork, leaving 11 cameras whose owners remain unidentified.
engadget.com
· 2026-10-01
After St. Lucie County, Florida ordered removal of Flock license-plate cameras from local roads, police discovered 14 cameras operating without required permits. Eleven of those cameras have no identified owner, while the Sheriff's Office claimed the remaining three but declined to explain why it never obtained permits or whether it accessed the data collected.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-10-01
A report using AI-assisted analysis found that opposition to artificial intelligence, data center construction and Flock surveillance cameras has emerged as a rare unifying issue among American voters. The findings indicate this backlash is becoming a notable factor heading into the midterm elections.
wsj.com
· 2026-10-01
According to 404 Media's review of public records and court documents, the Trump administration is using the decades-old HIDTA anti-drug trafficking grant program to require cities to send automated license plate reader data from Flock, Axon and other vendors to federal servers. That data is accessible to multiple federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, and in some cases is further shared with the DEA's National License Plate Reader Program.
404media.co
· 2026-10-01
Cybersecurity researcher Joshua Michael published a map based on Flock Security's own leaked location data, identifying more than 170,000 cameras and 130,000 related devices, including 27,000 acoustic sensors, across the US. That total roughly triples the 120,000-camera figure Flock had publicly cited this summer, and the findings were referenced during a Senate Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism hearing on the company.
theintercept.com
· 2026-09-28
Security researcher Joshua Michael found a flaw in Flock's website that exposed an access token without login credentials, letting him query ArcGIS and pull a database of camera locations in November 2025. He used that data to build the Flock Surveillance Map, listing 335,701 camera locations, and Flock has now filed a trademark infringement complaint seeking to take the site down.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-09-27
Newly unsealed court documents show five Indianapolis police officers have been charged with misusing the department's Flock automatic license plate readers, including 18-year veteran Jonathan Schultz, accused of using roughly 300 cameras to stalk his ex-wife and another woman. Separately, Franklin County, North Carolina ended its Flock contract and fired a detective for tracking a private citizen, while San Jose officials are pushing for tighter controls after an officer shared Flock data with a relative accused of domestic violence.
futurism.com
· 2026-09-27
Palm Beach resident Lindsey Isaacs, 23, was arrested and had her Dodge Durango towed after a Flock automated license plate reader camera recorded her car's plate near the site of a fatal three-person collision. Isaacs spent 13 days in jail, part of it in solitary confinement, before authorities determined she was not involved in the crash.
jezebel.com
· 2026-09-26
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