Flock promising changes are coming to cameras after scrutiny

Our Take

Credit to ABC News for putting a number on it: dozens of documented misuse cases, enough that Flock itself is now talking publicly about reform. That's notable, because for years the company's line has been that its system of audit logs and 'reason for search' fields makes abuse essentially self-correcting. Dozens of known incidents, surfaced despite a system supposedly built to prevent exactly that, tells you the guardrails are thinner than the marketing.

Notice also what's driving the 'promising changes' framing — not a legislative mandate, not an independent audit, but scrutiny and bad press. That's the pattern with Flock: expand first into thousands of towns with minimal public debate, and only tighten policy once a journalist or a lawsuit forces the issue. A company that polices its own product's misuse, on its own timeline, is not the same thing as accountability. The one million solved crimes figure is doing a lot of work in that segment too — it's an aggregate claim with no independent verification, and it says nothing about the searches that had nothing to do with solving any crime at all.

If your department runs Flock cameras, the audit logs and policies ABC is referencing should be public record — ask for them. Check whether your community is already wired up on our camera map, and if you want to push back on unchecked deployment, our take-action page has the tools to start.