Flock promised “immutable” audit logs. Cops abused it to stalk people. #flock
The short version: The Cincotta Report highlights how Flock's supposedly tamper-proof audit trail hasn't stopped officers from misusing ALPR data to track people for personal reasons.
Our Take
The Cincotta Report digs into a claim Flock Safety leans on constantly: that its audit logs make misuse of license plate data traceable and self-correcting. The pitch is that if a cop looks up a plate for the wrong reasons, the system will catch it. What this video lays out is the uncomfortable gap between that promise and what actually happens when someone in uniform decides to run a plate on an ex, a neighbor, or anyone else who isn't part of an active investigation.
An audit log that nobody reviews until after the harm is done isn't a safeguard, it's a paper trail for lawsuits. "Immutable" just means the record can't be altered, not that anyone is watching it in real time or that misuse gets stopped before someone gets hurt. That distinction matters because it's the core of how Flock and its police partners defend this technology to city councils and the public. Logs sound like accountability. They're not the same thing.
This is exactly why blanket trust in vendor safeguards is the wrong posture for any city considering an ALPR contract. Check our camera map to see if these systems are already watching your streets, and hit up take-action for ways to push back before your local department signs another renewal.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of The Cincotta Report, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.