Flock rolls out new recommendations for law enforcement

Our Take

TMJ4 News broke down Flock Safety's latest move: a fresh batch of "recommendations" for the police departments and sheriffs running its license plate readers. Sounds like progress, until you read the fine print. As TMJ4 reports, agencies aren't required to adopt any of it. That's the whole game with Flock — announce a policy, generate a headline, and let local departments decide whether to actually follow it.

We've seen this pattern before. A private company builds a nationwide tracking network, gets caught misusing it or handing data to agencies it shouldn't, then responds with voluntary best practices instead of enforceable limits. Recommendations don't stop an officer from running plates for personal reasons, don't stop data from crossing state lines to feed immigration enforcement, and don't give the public any real recourse when something goes wrong. Self-regulation by the company selling the surveillance isn't oversight — it's a press release.

Credit to TMJ4 for pressing on the gap between what Flock says and what it actually requires. If you want to see how far this network already reaches near you, check our camera map, and if you think your city council should be asking harder questions than Flock is willing to answer, head to take action.