‘People’s information should be protected’: Alabama sheriffs react to Flock camera policy changes

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - Alabama sheriffs are weighing in on new changes by Flock Safety aimed at protecting security and privacy amid nationwide concerns.

Flock Safety, the developer of controversial cameras that automatically scan license plates to detect criminals, announced Thursday they are making four primary policy changes:

• Data will be kept for 7 days instead of the previous 30, unless that data is classified under their new “Evidence Mode,” where data will be preserved for longer for certain investigations
• Law enforcement agencies can now choose the cases in which their cameras can be accessed by other departments
• Officers will be required to give a specific reason for each vehicle search
• Every Flock customer must use Flock’s “Audit Assistance” tool by the end of the year, which is designed to detect unusual activity

Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said he is pleased that Flock has limited the storage time for data along with limiting data sharing to specific purposes.

“It should be protected; people’s information should be protected,” he said.

Former Baldwin County Sheriff and current Alabama Sheriff’s Association Executive Director Huey “Hoss” Mack also thinks the policy changes are overall positive, but noted that data only being stored for seven days as a “bit of a short time frame.”

“Sometimes we may not know of a missing person or may not know of something like that or may not even know a crime has been committed for several days,” he said.

The cameras have increasingly come under scrutiny in recent months as more officers nationwide become accused of misusing them, including in Alabama.

Jones added that authorities have disciplinary measures to ensure that the cameras are being used ethically, but still expressed understanding for people’s concerns.

“That’s why it’s our job to make sure that that data is being used the way it’s intended to be used and that’s to keep the public and not for any other purpose,” he said.

Both Jones and Mack agree that while accountability is needed, so is this type of technology, citing several cases the cameras have helped them solve, one of which being the case of Aniah Blanchard’s death. The suspect, Ibraheem Yazeed, was eventually sentenced to life in prison.

Mack recalled a double homicide case from his time as Baldwin County Sheriff in which Flock cameras helped authorities find and arrest the suspect by piecing together limited evidence in a short span of time.

Another concern about Flock cameras is not just what the technology is capable of now, but what it will be capable of in the future.

In July, Montgomery Police Chief Jim Graboys said that “One of the things that we’ve been pursuing in our future endeavors is an AI program that we can utilize to integrate with some of these cameras so that the cameras can be actually notifying us of stuff as it happens.”

“I think there’s a useful component of AI in law enforcement. To be quite honest with you, I don’t know that most agencies understand the scope and the span of what AI can do,” Mack admitted. “Obviously, all technology is emerging. By the time a week from now, we’re going to have new advances in technology versus this conversation that we’re having today. So, we’ve just got to stay on top of it.”

As for what the technology can and cannot track, both say that if you’re not a criminal, there’s no need to worry.

“The field of view is limited to a specific area, generally just the vehicle itself, where the tag is located on the vehicle. It isn’t taking in a wide broad view of everything going on in the area. It’s just specifically to that particular vehicle and only alerts law enforcement if the data surrounding that vehicle, that tag number is entered into the system,” Jones said. “It’s just only when a specifically entered tag associated legitimately with some type of a criminal event, that’s when it sends the alert.”

Mack says what’s made Flock the go-to technology for many departments and neighborhood associations is how inter-connected the cameras are across the country.

“It is because it’s an integrated technology. And so once, you know, I always tell people now we’ve expanded, when before we were looking in the needle at a small haystack, now we can look at a bigger haystack, particularly when we have a totally unknown situation that we’re not aware of,” Mack said.

Autauga County Sheriff Mark Harrell released a statement Thursday regarding his department’s use of Flock cameras.

According to Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley, the company helped solve over 1 million crimes and detected over 10,000 missing people in 2025.

Not reading this story on the WSFA News App? Get news alerts FASTER and FREE in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store!