Flock's Promotional Catalog Doubles as an Advance Roster of License Plate Reader Misuse

A vendor's own promotional catalog has functioned, in plain sight, as a forecast of which police departments would later face misconduct allegations tied to its technology, and the list was published years before any of the allegations surfaced.

Flock Safety, the country's largest automatic license plate reader, or ALPR, vendor, runs a YouTube channel that has showcased agencies as model users of its cameras. At least four of those featured agencies have since been publicly accused of misusing those cameras, in distinctly different ways: six Savannah personnel placed on administrative leave in a probe referred to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation on July 31, 2026; five former Albany officers arrested by the GBI on July 6, 2026, on counts including misuse of license plate data; one Sandy Springs officer terminated; and one Baytown officer who resigned in late July 2026. The promotional videos pre-date the allegations in each case.

WIRED's review of Flock's curated catalog documents the pattern. Flock spokesperson Paris Lewbel, in her emailed statement to WIRED, framed the same cases as proof that "accountability tools and internal review processes" are working. Both readings are about the same evidence. The catalog Flock curated to celebrate adoption is also the catalog that now previews misuse. The list is publicly searchable, so any reader can test the pattern against their own local department.