Documented Incident
Washington Post finds at least 11 cases of unauthorized access to Flock license plate databases
First reported: October 21, 2026 · 1 source
A Washington Post investigation identified at least 11 instances in which people gained or kept access to Flock Safety's license plate reader databases without authorization, including former officers whose accounts were never deactivated and officers who shared log-ins across agencies. Among the cases, former Effingham County, Georgia investigator Andrae Wright allegedly ran more than 60 searches in the five years after leaving the sheriff's office and was arrested in July and charged with stalking his ex-wife; he did not respond to Post requests for comment. In Indianapolis, prosecutors charged five officers last month after a department-wide audit prompted by Post questions, including a recruit accused in a court affidavit of using a colleague's credentials to search his estranged wife's plate more than 1,000 times in a year. Flock says it has removed accounts violating its terms, made multi-factor authentication mandatory in August, and will require users to log back in every 12 hours starting next year.
The reporting raises questions about whether agencies audit who can search ALPR systems and whether vendor-side safeguards match the sensitivity of nationwide vehicle location data. Charges in these cases are allegations that have not been resolved in court.
Key facts
- Flock operates at least 120,000 cameras nationwide and was valued by investors at $7.5 billion last year.
- In 4 of the 11 cases, log-ins remained active after an officer left or during a suspension; in 6, credentials were shared with officers at other agencies.
- A Cobb County Sheriff's Office review found roughly 200 of about 900 staff had Flock access, including jail employees, per an agency official.
- Flock made MFA the default in 2024 and mandatory in August 2025; competitor Rekor has required it since 2019, its chairman said.
- Flock denies it has been hacked, characterizing an August 2024 Mishawaka, Indiana incident as misuse of customer accounts rather than a compromise of its infrastructure; Mishawaka says it found no evidence of a breach.
Sources
This summary was written from the published reporting below and links to it; BlockFlockNow does not reproduce article text.
- Cops left the force . They kept tracking people with a powerful camera network . (adn.com, October 21, 2026)
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About this record
BlockFlockNow documents reported incidents involving Flock Safety cameras and automated license plate readers: council votes, contract decisions, misuse by authorized users, lawsuits, audits, and community response. Every record is reviewed by a person before publication. New to the topic? Start with What is Flock?, find meetings near you, or learn how to request your town's camera records.
Updated October 23, 2026. Corrections: blockflock@bytebunny.io. See all documented incidents or search the full article archive.