Senior Android Software Engineer

Surveillance startup Flock announced new policies and tools on Thursday aimed at curbing abuse of its automated licence plate reader systems by law enforcement. The company now recommends police retain data for seven days instead of 30, and introduced "Evidence Mode" for exceptional cases requiring longer retention. Flock is also requiring all customers to enable its "Audit Assistance" tool by year-end. The company claims it detects abnormal activity and flags it for review, but has not explained in detail how it works. Flock told TechCrunch the tool is not based on machine learning or AI, describing it as "a data tool that flags atypical search patterns". However, the company has not provided statistics on effectiveness or false positive rates. Privacy experts remain sceptical. The ACLU's Chad Marlow said there's "no evidence that the tool works consistently", whilst the EFF's Cooper Quintin suggested laws constraining the technology would be more effective than internal auditing tools.

Flock camera scandals prompt company to make changes. * Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY * Aug 13, 2026 Updated 1 hr ago This Flock camera, at the intersection of Broadway and Exchange Street in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, is mounted on a metal utility pole, nestled amid street signs and crosswalk signals. * Paul Edward Parker/The Providence Journal, USA TODAY Network Anti-Flock surveillance protesters gather in Columbus, Ohio, outside a city council hearing on Aug. 10, 2026. * Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch/USA TODAY Network * Eric Seals, USA TODAY Network As law enforcement agencies across the nation continue to use controversial license plate readers, a leading company behind the tech says a new update aims to crack down on police officers who misuse the data. Flock Safety announced the news on Thursday, Aug. 13, after a slew of high-profile cases that allege misuse of the system, such as police officers running searches not tied to law enforcement investigations, including to stalk or harass someone. Flock has been facing mounting pushback from Americans across the political spectrum over privacy, along with instances of vandalism and protest by those who oppose how ubiquitous the cameras have become across the United States. One Florida resident, 77-year-old Carl Gunn, can be seen regularly standing in front of a camera with a sign that reads, "Down with Flock cameras." Opponents of the cameras have sprawling concerns about privacy and surveillance, but Flock is focusing on officers who misuse data in the update. In an interview with USA TODAY, CEO Garrett Langley said Flock Safety is taking a stand against police abuse of power and for the privacy everyday people expect. New measures rolling out Aug. 13 will help put a stop to police misusing the system and send up flags for any attempted misuse, he said. "You will get caught," Langley said in a message to law enforcement seeking to use Flock for personal gain. The company's cameras are installed within the jurisdiction of more than 6,000 law enforcement agencies in the country. Flock says it has 120,000 cameras in 49 states. They are used to track vehicles' license plates, models, makes and colors so authorities can search a database for the exact movements of any car anytime it is picked up by a camera. Chad Marlow, senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, told USA TODAY the technology triggers concerns about government overreach from the right and worries about who is being targeted from the left. "There's different reasons, but everyone is arriving at the same position, which is mass government surveillance in this country has gotten completely out of control and needs to be reined in immediately," Marlow said. Meanwhile, the technology has revolutionized the way police track suspected criminals. In July alone, Langley told USA TODAY, the cameras helped solve 1,000 missing persons cases and 22,000 stolen vehicle cases. Misuse of Flock cameras investigated in multiple states A Georgia police chief was arrested in November and accused of using automated license plate readers (also known as ALPRs) to harass and stalk multiple people; he was found dead by suicide before he could stand trial, The Washington Post reported. An officer at another Georgia police department was also arrested for using Flock's system for non-law-enforcement purposes, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced Aug. 7. The city of Chandler, Arizona, announced Aug. 7 that it was discontinuing its contract with Flock after it detected an "anomaly" in the use of its cameras. The Pinal County Sheriff's Office, also in Arizona, said it also decided not to renew its contract, citing concerns about the Fourth Amendment, which protects Americans against unreasonable searches and seizures. In Apache Junction, Arizona, a police officer resigned after he was investigated on suspicion of using his department's Flock cameras to track his wife and asking another department to check its system's cameras to do a welfare check on her, reported the Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network. A North Carolina police officer was charged with a count of unlawfully accessing computers after allegedly using her department's license plate reader system to look up the vehicle of her boyfriend's ex-wife 31 times, including twice while off duty, WBTV reported Aug. 5. The officer, Elizabeth Snowman, was accused of inputting bogus reasons for her searches into the system, including traffic infractions and burglary. Another North Carolina officer faces a similar charge of conducting an unauthorized license plate search, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation said in July. Langley said the identification of police misuse of Flock has increased since earlier this year when the company rolled out its "audit assistance" tool, which flags abnormal searches by law enforcement for review. But until now, the tool was optional, and only about one-third of law enforcement clients turned it on. Going forward, it will be universally implemented, he said. "As we now go from one-third of our customers to all of our customers having it, I think we will find new forms of abuse, program that into the system to prevent it happening again," he said. Flock rolls out new safeguards to protect privacy Langley said he feels strongly that companies producing the tools used by law enforcement should implement every safeguard possible to prevent rogue officers from using technology for their own personal gain and engaging in misconduct. On Aug. 13, Flock Safety announced it would implement the new features to weed out bad actors in police departments and stop the misuse of its systems altogether. They are: * Every vehicle search will require a reason. Law enforcement personnel will have to input a specific case code tied to the investigation they are working on and enter the type of offense. For example, along with the code, they might select kidnapping or motor vehicle theft. Langley hopes this will stop officers from making up false reasons or entering something overly vague such as "investigation." * Audit assistance will be mandatory for all police departments using Flock. The tool flags abnormal search behavior, such as an officer repeatedly searching the same license plate day after day, or clusters of searches late at night. Users are locked out in real time until an administrator reviews the search. * Data will be retained in the system for seven days instead of 30 days, except for cases that need more time under "evidence mode," when a search is tied to an ongoing case number. * Departments can choose what types of cases can be searched for by other departments. For example, Department A might allow Department B to search its cameras for kidnapping, homicide or theft cases but exclude Department B from searching for immigration-related offenses. Police officer misuse of law enforcement tools goes back decades, well before Flock entered the picture, Langley said. "It is, a cop checks his daughter's boyfriend's criminal record. It is, a cop checks ex-partner's location," he said. "It is typically taking the job and the power you're given and using it for personal gain." Langley said such misuse should be illegal in every state, and advocated for lawmakers to add similar safeguards to all the tools police use, such as DMV records. Officers who are abusing Flock are likely abusing every system they have access to, he said. "A search without a reason is a search that shouldn't happen in the first place," Flock Safety said in a news release. Langley said technology itself is neither good nor evil, but how it's used can be. "I think there's a misconception that we have to make a choice between safety and privacy. And I just refuse to accept that." Contributing: N'dea Yancey-Bragg Reporting by Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY / USA TODAY USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect More national/world news. Currently in Bend

Flock rolls out new police auditing and accountability controls following surveillance concerns. The license plate reader company is making audit tools and search justifications mandatory for all police agency customers after a string of officer arrests and resignations for alleged misuse. Flock Safety is making audit tools and search justifications mandatory for police after misuse scandals. (Scripps News) By: Clare Duffy Posted 49 minutes ago Law enforcement technology company Flock introduced new safety controls on Thursday, hoping 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 - mounted along public roads - take images of passing vehicles' plates, color and other characteristics to feed into a database. Police departments contract with the company to search the database, billed as a tool to help solve crimes. But a string of recent police officer resignations or arrests for alleged abuses of Flock's license plate reader camera system, including to stalk exes or romantic interests, have added to nationwide concerns among privacy advocates and community members about the technology. Some cities have cancelled their Flock contracts, and some critics have gone so far as to vandalize the cameras. Flock CEO Garrett Langley was motivated to update Flock's safety controls after realizing just how many people lack trust in law enforcement. "I've spent a lot of time in the last two years talking to individuals, and a lot of them have said, 'Well, I don't trust the police,' and I go, 'Why?' 'Oh, well, the police have abused their power so many times,'" Langley said in an interview ahead of the announcement. "What's changed for me is realizing that we have a responsibility, maybe an obligation even, to the communities we serve to set the standard." Flock 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. The tool could help address misuse like, for example, the former Milwaukee police officer who court documents show secretly used Flock to search the location of his romantic partner 124 times. When the system detects unusual searches, the user will be locked out of the system pending an administrator review, according to Flock. The company says that around a third of its agency customers turned on the Audit Assistance before it became mandatory. "This is designed to intervene before misuse becomes recurring or widespread, rather than simply documenting misuse after the fact," the company said in a statement. 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, Flock says. This feature was previously optional for police departments, and Flock says it must be turned on for all agencies by the end of this year. Flock is reducing its standard data retention policy from 30 days - a length of time that the ACLU and others had raised concerns about - 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. And the company will give local jurisdictions the option to limit how outside agencies can search data from their cameras; for example, allowing searches related to theft but not to immigration enforcement. 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. He suggested requiring audits and tools to detect unusual behavior across all technology used by law enforcement and harsher penalties for abuses of power. Rebuilding trust in the company's products - and in law enforcement's responsible use of them - may be crucial for Flock's business. Some cities that canceled contracts with Flock have recently inked deals with competitor Axon. "Our customers are the community," Langley said. "Police might pay the bills. Police might make the decisions, but our customer is the community, because that's who actually receives the benefit of the product."