New York, NY — Questions over police access to privately operated surveillance networks are growing after records showed the New York Police Department searched Flock Safety’s license-plate database 1,710 times between March 2023 and December 2025, despite saying it has no contract with the company.
The records, obtained and analyzed by the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project and LatinoJustice PRLDEF, came from Have I Been Flocked, which compiles audit logs released through public-records requests. Nearly 1,000 NYPD searches reportedly included no meaningful explanation or only vague entries such as “investigation,” “wanted person,” or “inquiry.” At least 131 searches listed the Queens district attorney’s office as the requesting agency.
The NYPD has previously acknowledged that a limited number of authorized personnel can access a national commercial license-plate-reader repository. The newly disclosed logs, however, prompted the two advocacy groups to seek records showing whether officers used Flock through another agency’s contract, along with training materials, policies, audit logs and any payments to the company.
Flock says participating agencies control whether their camera data is shared and that every law-enforcement search is logged for review. The company says it does not sell customer data and has begun adding tighter documentation requirements, including standardized offense categories and planned case-number requirements for searches.
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