As cities throughout Central Texas continue to consider, and in some cases cancel, contracts with Flock Safety for Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) cameras, one of the primary concerns has been the availability of the data collected by these cameras to federal agencies.
In speaking out against Flock, Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra expressed concern about possible misuse of Flock images.
“What’s changed is the federal government,” Becerra said. “Like it or not, it’s very different than the federal government we’ve had in all of our existence. It’s being used in ways that are so different, and that is what has caused concern in privacy and security risks The Hays County Commissioners Court Court voted to cancel the county’s contract with Flock on Oct. 14. The previous week, the Lockhart city council voted against the installation of Flock cameras within the city limits.
In last Friday’s issue of the Daily Record, Hays County Sheriff Anthony Hipolito discussed his support of Flock and other ALPR cameras.
“License Plate Readers are a force multiplier and a tool that we covet as law enforcement,” Hipolito said. “I can tell you that that was a big morale killer for our deputies ... because people don’t know how vital of a tool that is.” Hipolito also stressed that Hays County did not have a contract with ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and has not been asked directly to share data collected with Hays County ALPR cameras with ICE.
He said that, theoretically, ICE could access Hays County Flock data through another agency who had a data-sharing software agreement with Flock.
Flock Safety does not currently have a contract with any U.S. Department of Homeland Security agencies, according to CEO Garrett Langley. However, he said in an August 25 statement that the company had “engaged in limited pilots with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), to assist those agencies in combating human trafficking and fentanyl distribution.”
As of mid-August, Flock has paused all pilot programs with the federal government in order to change the way federal agencies can interact with the software, Langley said. The updated system will allow local law enforcement agencies more insight in how their information is being shared.
Prior to the August pause, the Flock database did not have distinct permissions and protocols to ensure local compliance for federal agency users, according to Langley. But revisions to the Flock software will address this issue.
“All federal customers will be designated within Flock as a distinct “Federal” user category in the system. This distinction will give local agencies better information to determine their sharing settings. Moving forward, federal users will not be added to Statewide or Nationwide lookup. Any sharing request, audit or display of these agencies will clearly delineate that an organization is federal.”
The reach of their network continues to expand, with Flock Safety announcing earlier this month a partnership with home security camera company Ring. The agreement between the companies allows Ring customers using the “Community Request” feature to share videos in response to law enforcement agency requests submitted through Flock software.
“The expansion of Community Requests will empower more communities to do what they’ve always wanted to do – help,” according to a statement from Ring.
“Public safety agencies can’t see who received a notification or who chose not to respond. You can even turn off Community Request notifications altogether if you prefer.”
Editor’s Note: The majority of this information was added to the digital version of the article “Sheriff Hipolito on Flock ALPR camera cancellation” after the hardcopy was published for the Friday, Nov. 24 issue of the San Marcos Daily Record. It is being printed here to provide additional context on the topic. For the full article, visit sanmarcosrecord.com/article/31635,sheriff-hipolito-on-flock-alpr-camera-cancellation.
