The FBI Intelligence Division’s plan to gain direct access to a broader network of cameras could help expand that information sharing. As the FBI notes, its intelligence division shares information with various federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies.
Swarm: Sharing is “opt-in” for local police
As part of a pilot last year, Flock temporarily provided access to Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations, the Secret Service and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. According to Wyden, Flacco referred the pilot to the office of Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). Flock says it has federal clients “including national parks, Veterans Affairs hospitals and military bases,” but it does not work with ICE.
Federal attempts to access data may be limited by company policies. Flock says communities that use its cameras can provide data access to federal agencies, but sharing with federal agencies is disabled by default. In March, Flock said it was “defining a new relationship with federal law enforcement”, including terms for maintaining local control over data sharing.
The company said, “Flock data belongs to the agency that owns the cameras. There are no backdoors into Flock. Any access is explicitly permission-based and opted-in by the local agency.”
We contacted Flock and Motorola Solutions and will update this article if they provide any comment.
There are also state laws limiting data access. California prohibits state and local agencies from sharing ALPR camera data with out-of-state or federal law enforcement agencies. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) said in January 2024 that dozens of California law enforcement agencies violated the law by sharing ALPR information with out-of-state agencies.
A Virginia law enacted last year imposed similar limits. The FBI’s request for proposals states that contractors must identify the location of the servers where the data is stored to verify compliance with state and local laws on license plate reader data.
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