By McKenzie Romero | Editor
Flock and its cameras have ruffled feathers across the country — including in Utah this week, where a civic group called into question the number of out-of-state searches coming for Utah data.
The company behind an expansive national network of license plate readers has now announced new safeguards around how and why law enforcement is able to access data collected by its devices.
In this weekend’s Dispatch we update you on the changes coming to the controversial Flock network and bring you our top stories of the week, including the rising price tag of fighting wildfires in Utah and the slow rollout of a Great Salt Lake dust monitoring system.
“These changes, like I said, are the next chapter of a long book I hope to write on how we build a better version of America that’s both safer, protects our privacy and holds those who have power accountable.” — Flock Safety co-founder and CEO Garrett Langley in a video announcing changes to the company’s camera network.
Flock Safety license plate readers are typically mounted on tall poles, with a camera and solar panel on top. The company says its technology is used in more than 6,000 communities across 49 states in partnership with thousands of law enforcement agencies nationwide. (Photo courtesy of Flock Safety)
STATELINE
By Amanda Watford
Flock Safety is tightening privacy and oversight controls for its nationwide network of automated license plate readers as more communities pull back from the technology and lawmakers across the political spectrum push for new restrictions.
The company announced it will recommend that police agencies retain license plate reader data for seven days, down from 30, while adding tools to restrict data sharing between agencies and detect potentially abusive searches. Flock also plans to require law enforcement users to associate searches with case codes and automatically suspend users whose activity is flagged as abnormal.
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