Independent Grand Jury Report Highlights Flock's Commitment to Responsible ALPR Technology through Product Design and Safeguards

Independent reviews are most meaningful when they come from a neutral body with no stake in the outcome. The California Civil Grand Jury is precisely that—an independent body established under California law to conduct objective investigations into matters affecting the public interest.

Flock welcomed the San Mateo County Civil Grand Jury's inquiry and cooperated fully throughout its investigation, providing information and responding promptly to requests because we believe responsible public safety technology should welcome fair, rigorous, and impartial scrutiny.

The Grand Jury's report, publicly available here, concludes that significant progress has been made to strengthen the privacy, transparency, and accountability of ALPR technology in California—and recognizes that many of those improvements were driven by Flock.

"Over the past year, [San Mateo County law enforcement agencies] have made notable operational improvements, particularly with respect to out-of-state data sharing. Most changes were driven by stronger default compliance made by Flock Safety..."

Strengthening Compliance Through Product Design

The report highlights a series of platform enhancements Flock implemented to reduce the risk of improper data sharing and improve accountability. These include:

• Disabling out-of-state sharing and effectively eliminating it for California agencies.
• Preventing the creation of out-of-state sharing relationships.
• Working with customers to review and update existing sharing configurations.
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The report also recognizes improvements designed to increase transparency and oversight, including:

• Standardized offense categories
• Enhanced audit logs
• Transparency Portals
• Audit Assistance Tool
• Stronger role-based permissions
• Updated terms of service 

Independent Recognition of Meaningful Progress

The Grand Jury concluded:

"Flock has implemented a number of substantive changes to its platform in response to concerns regarding data sharing and legal compliance. These changes have improved transparency, standardized key aspects of system use, and provided agencies with additional tools to monitor activity."

The report also recognizes that responsibility for complying with California law ultimately rests with each individual law enforcement agency—not the technology vendor—but Flock’s technology provides meaningful safeguards in furtherance of those compliance efforts. 

Continuing to Raise the Bar

We appreciate the San Mateo County Civil Grand Jury's thoughtful and objective review and were pleased to cooperate fully throughout its investigation.

Its findings recognize the substantial compliance improvements Flock has implemented over the past year and reinforce our longstanding commitment to building technology that helps communities solve crime while advancing transparency, accountability, privacy, and public trust.

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Photo Credit:
James Hoey on Unsplash‍