Federal class-action lawsuit filed against Flock Safety

(WIS) - A Georgia woman has filed a federal lawsuit claiming Flock cameras are doing more harm than good.

The woman, Grace Schulte, filed a class-action suit on Aug. 25 against Flock Safety, the company which makes the automated license plate readers - or ALPRs.

Many ALPRs have colloquially been referred to as “Flock cameras” due to their association with the company.

Schulte claims that while Flock’s network over over 120,000 ALPRs nationwide are supposed to help catch criminals, they’re often used by police officers for stalking and other personal reasons.

Several recent reports of misuse have been documented in states including South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, Texas and Florida - among others. Not all of those reports were explicitly named or mentioned in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also claims the cameras also tend to provide inaccurate results, causing innocent people to be pulled over by police.

It cites an incident in California where over 70% of stolen car alerts were the Flock cameras misreading license plates. Another example laid out in the lawsuit detailed how a Colorado woman was wrongly accused of stealing a package during her normal drive to work.

Flock Safety notably announced policy changes in August in response to growing public scrutiny and criticism.

Schulte’s lawsuit would cover every person in the country whose license plate was scanned by a Flock camera since Jan. 1, 2024. She’s also asking for damages for invasion of privacy, as well as punitive damages against Flock Safety itself.

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