Flock Safety cuts data retention to seven days after dozens of police abuse cases

Flock Safety Cuts Data Retention to Seven Days After Dozens of Police Abuse Cases

Flock Safety has cut its default data retention from 30 days to seven and will make search audits compulsory. The Flock Safety privacy changes follow nearly 50 documented cases of police officers misusing the number plate network.

Key Changes:

• Data Retention: The default holding period for number plate reads drops from 30 days to seven days. Flock found that over 90% of searches are completed within a week, making a shorter retention period appropriate.

• Evidence Mode: A feature called Evidence Mode allows detectives to preserve specific data for active investigations. It is free for customers adopting the seven-day window and rolls out in coming weeks.

• Accountability Tools:

  • Audit Assistance: Flags abnormal activity for administrators to review. Compulsory for all law enforcement customers by year’s end.
  • Proactive Lockout: Suspends access automatically when behaviour meets abnormal criteria.
  • Case Codes: Officers must attach a records management code to searches, with emergency bypasses flagged for review.

• Security, Accuracy, and Transparency:

  • Flock commissioned Bishop Fox to review systems; findings and fixes published in September.
  • Multi-factor authentication made mandatory this month.
  • Less than nine human-reported errors per million alerts; models retrained weekly.
  • Over 1,500 agencies use transparency portals showing policy, retention period, and sharing partners.

Prompted By:

The Washington Post documented nearly 50 instances of officers charged or accused of unauthorised use, including tracking current or former partners or family members. Recent examples include the Savannah Police Department sacking six employees, four officers, after finding unauthorized searches through Flock’s audit function.