California drivers accuse Flock Safety of sharing data with federal and out-of-state agencies

(CN) — In a lawsuit, two California drivers have accused tech company Flock Safety of violating state law by allowing out-of-state and federal agencies to access information captured by its automated license-plate recognition (ALPR) cameras.

“Flock has created an Orwellian mass-surveillance infrastructure that is practically impossible to avoid, particularly for anyone operating a vehicle in the towns and cities across this country where Flock has installed its cameras,” the drivers say in their complaint, filed Thursday in state court in San Francisco.

“Flock attempts to evade responsibility and shift liability for its violations by pointing fingers at its own customers,” they claim. “But Flock cannot rely on weaponized incompetence when its obligations under California law are crystal clear.”

The two drivers seek to represent all individuals whose license plate data was collected in California by Flock’s automated license-plate recognition system and was accessible by federal and out-of-state law enforcement agencies on or after Feb. 26, 2022.

The purported sharing of data captured by the company’s ubiquitous roadside cameras has become a controversial issue following media reports that Homeland Security accesses local law-enforcement databases and uses the collected tracking information in its immigration crackdown.

The California ALPR Privacy Act prohibits local law enforcement from sharing this data with federal and out-of-state law enforcement agencies.

More than 200 California law enforcement agencies use Flock’s data, which is collected by a network of high-definition cameras in high-traffic locations. The cameras record the time and location of any vehicle that passes by, including the license plate number and vehicle characteristics such as make, color and distinguishing features, the drivers say in their complaint.

The drivers cite reports that Flock allowed law enforcement agencies from outside of California to search the San Francisco Police Department’s ALPR database more than 1.6 million times between August 2024 and February 2025, as well as the Los Altos database more than a million times in 2024 and 2025.

The Mountain View Police Department, the plaintiffs say, discovered only recently that federal agencies accessed its cameras’ data through a nationwide search tool. They say this feature was enabled without the police department’s permission or knowledge.

In recent months, the cities of Santa Cruz, Richmond, Mountain View and Los Altos Hills all shut down Flock cameras or terminated their contracts, according to the drivers.

Last October, California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued the city of El Cajon over its refusal to comply with state law prohibiting the sharing of license plate data with federal and out-of-state law enforcement agencies.

Although Flock last year removed all California agencies and their ALPR information from its National Lookup feature, the company still isn’t in compliance with state law, the plaintiffs argue. They claim that data sharing between two agencies can inadvertently give additional agencies access to the data.

In addition, the drivers say, so-called side-door access to local databases bypass formal data-sharing agreements that are prohibited by the ALPR Privacy Act. For example, a police officer with system access who is running plates on behalf of the feds might have login credentials for a local agency’s Flock portal.

In April 2025, the plaintiffs claim, the California Highway Patrol conducted a search on behalf of ICE across 845 different California agency databases with which it had sharing agreements. Because of the expansive nature of Flock’s data settings, they argue this means ICE effectively searched not just one but 845 localities’ databases in a single query.

“Flock intends to vigorously defend itself against the asserted claims and allegations,” the Atlanta-based company said in response to the drivers’ lawsuit. “Because this matter involves pending litigation, Flock will not comment further on the specifics of the case at this time.”

“Flock takes privacy, legal compliance, and data security extremely seriously,” the company added in its statement. “We are committed to helping communities and law enforcement agencies use technology responsibly and in compliance with applicable law. Across California, Flock has been an invaluable tool in helping solve and deter crime, supporting investigations and promoting public safety for residents and communities.”

The drivers’ claims include violations of the California ALPR Privacy Act, negligence, invasion of privacy, intrusion upon seclusion and violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law. They seek unspecified damages and a court order halting the purported unlawful conduct.

The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys from Gibbs Mura LLP in Oakland, California, and from Milberg PLLC in Beverly Hills, California.

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