Law enforcement technology company Flock has introduced new safety controls to curb growing scrutiny and fears around surveillance and police misuse of its tools. Flock’s nationwide network of automated license plate readers (ALPR) cameras take images of passing vehicles’ plates, color, and other characteristics to feed into a database.
New Safety Controls
Police departments contract with the company to search the database, billed as a tool to help solve crimes. However, a string of recent police officer resignations or arrests for alleged abuses of Flock’s license plate reader camera system has added to nationwide concerns among privacy advocates and community members about the technology.
Flock CEO Garrett Langley was motivated to update Flock’s safety controls after realizing just how many people lack trust in law enforcement. The company is now requiring all customers to use its ‘Audit Assistance’ tool by the end of this year. The tool flags abnormal search behavior — for example, by an individual officer.
When the system detects unusual searches, the user will be locked out of the system pending an administrator review, according to Flock. The company will also require users to input a case number to justify each search, with the exception of ‘genuine emergencies’ that will be automatically flagged for review.
Reducing Data Retention
Flock is reducing its standard data retention policy from 30 days to seven days. However, agencies can adjust that retention period based on state or local policy, the company said. It’s also adding an ‘evidence mode’ feature that will allow agencies to preserve data longer than the retention policy allows when a search is tied to a specific case number.
Langley called the misuse of Flock cameras by police officers ‘completely unacceptable,’ adding that building guardrails in the technology can help address surveillance concerns. While the company’s updates are intended to address potential misuse, Langley said he’d also like to see state regulators mandate more accountability from police.
Original reporting: KTVZ (Central Oregon) — read the source article.
