Reports from EFF and 404 Media allege that Flock Safety’s surveillance technologies are prone to facilitating human rights violations. Flock Safety’s automated license plate readers (ALPR) have received heightened scrutiny, given concerns over data sharing practices with US federal immigration officers and a case where a Texas Sheriff's Office allegedly used the tool to track a woman who was suspected of having an abortion.

ALPRs are camera systems that automatically capture vehicle license plates and use software to read and record the information, often using artificial intelligence to compare it against databases. They can either be fixed (attached to street poles, streetlights) or attached to moving objects (such as police cars). Flock Safety advertises their ALPRs to public and private sector clients, such as homeowners associations, schools, and law enforcement.

According to EFF:

“Vendors say that the information collected can be used by police to find out where a plate has been in the past to determine whether a vehicle was at the scene of a crime, to identify travel patterns, and even to discover vehicles that may be associated with each other. Law enforcement agencies can choose to share their information with thousands of other agencies. Taken in the aggregate, ALPR data can paint an intimate portrait of a driver’s life and even chill First Amendment protected activity. ALPR technology can be used to target drivers who visit sensitive places such as health centers, immigration clinics, gun shops, union halls, protests, or centers of religious worship.”

Allegations against Flock Safety include: that its products create a surveillance infrastructure prone to abuse, it lacks effective safeguards for privacy and other affiliated human rights, it lacks adequate oversight mechanisms, its products enable potential exploitation by powerful government agencies (local and federal), and its products exhibit systemic risks that are not fully addressed by technical updates or client trainings.

In August 2025, Flock Safety announced that it had paused its pilot projects with federal agencies. In October 2025, the BHRRC contacted Flock Safety asking for more information on additional steps the company is taking to address the above concerns, and remediate any harms linked to their operations.

In the provided statement, Flock Safety addressed the following:

“…Data Ownership, Retention, and Sharing – Every Flock customer fully owns and controls 100% of its data, determining for themselves what are acceptable and unacceptable uses, who and when should have access, and with whom to share that data, according to the laws of their jurisdiction and the values of their community…”

“Audit Logs and Oversight – Every search in the Flock LPR system requires a stated reason, and all searches are preserved permanently in the audit trail of every agency whose camera was included in the search. Those searches are viewable in an agency’s “network audit” and available for regular oversight: to command staff, to elected officials, to communities…”

“Training and Education – Flock has engaged customers across the country, along with several state law enforcement associations, to collaborate on education and training campaigns to promote best practices on LPR use, auditing, and compliance. This includes the integration of ethical best practices into agency onboarding, training events to explain how LPR technology works, and ongoing communications to promote transparency and community trust…”

“New Compliance Features – To make compliance easier for customers for whom certain uses of LPR are prohibited by law or policy, we have introduced keyword filters that automatically block specific searches involving impermissible terms. These filters are currently focused on the categories of civil immigration enforcement and reproductive healthcare, and include a list of words and phrases related to these use cases…

…Next month, we are introducing a mandatory Offense Type dropdown, originating from NIBRS offense categories, required to perform any LPR search. This ensures that within every search is preserved a declaration of the specific offense under investigation, creating a stronger audit trail and eliminating generalization…”

“Federal Agencies – The federal government has an important role in public safety. Local agencies often collaborate with federal agencies, through federal task forces or otherwise, to solve some of society's most heinous crimes like human trafficking. However, local agencies should always have full decision-making authority and control over whether and when to work with federal agencies. Therefore, we created a separate federal organization designation, ensuring transparency when federal agencies request access to LPR footage from state or local partners…”

Flock Safety did not provide a response regarding remediation for any affiliated harms. The full response from Flock Safety is available here.