Flock Safety Deploys AI to Catch Police Misusing License Plate Database
At least 20 Georgia officers disciplined in past year for allegedly tracking romantic partners and acquaintances through vehicle-location system.
A license plate reader company has deployed artificial intelligence to detect when police officers improperly search its vehicle-location database, a response to mounting cases of alleged misuse including stalking and unauthorized tracking.
Flock Safety introduced the "audit assistance" tool in April 2026 after a surge in disciplinary cases. Atlanta News First Investigates identified at least 20 Georgia officers who faced firing, arrest, or removal from duty in the past year for allegedly using the system to track romantic partners and acquaintances.
The AI-powered tool automatically flags searches that may violate department policies and routes them to supervisors for review. Previously, departments had to manually examine large volumes of audit logs to identify suspicious activity.
How the system works
Flock Safety's license plate reader network captures vehicle locations across participating jurisdictions. Officers can search the database by plate number to track vehicle movements. Every search generates an audit log entry recording who accessed the system and when.
The company's new AI tool analyzes search patterns to identify potentially improper queries, reducing the manual oversight burden on supervisors. Paris Lewbel, a Flock spokesperson, said the audit logs have surfaced many misuse cases. "In many of the rare documented cases of misuse of our platform, it was our own audit logs that surfaced the issue," Lewbel told Atlanta News First.
Privacy changes spark accountability debate
Flock recently modified what information appears in audit logs available through public records requests. The company now replaces officer names with anonymized ID numbers when outside agencies search a department's data, and no longer includes license plate numbers in the logs.
Lewbel said the changes protect officer safety and active investigations. "We identified a pattern of activists using publicly released audit data to identify undercover officers by name – publishing their contact information alongside details of active investigations," he said. Nearly 200 law enforcement leaders raised concerns that prompted the policy shift.
Critics argue the redactions undercut public oversight. In at least two nationwide cases—including one in Georgia—alleged victims discovered officers were searching their plate data through HaveIBeenFlocked.com, a now-defunct website that compiled searchable databases from public records.
Flock maintains that all omitted information remains preserved with the originating agency and available to authorized oversight bodies.
Why it matters
The wave of misuse cases raises fundamental questions about surveillance technology accountability. While AI audit tools may catch current violations, the timing suggests significant misuse may have occurred before automated detection existed—particularly in stalking and domestic situations where victims had no way to know they were being tracked. The tension between officer safety and public transparency will likely intensify as more agencies adopt automated vehicle-location systems that create searchable movement histories for millions of people.
The cases were first reported by Atlanta News First Investigates in their July 17, 2026 investigation by Brendan Keefe.
This is an original analysis by the Omega editorial team. Source reporting: AI Watch.
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